Secret of the Journal
by Brilly
Summary: FINISHED!!! Sequel to The Dark Plot (not required). On the class trip to the Ruins of Alph, something strange attacks Jim and his friends. After that, their lives will never be the same!
1. Day at the Movies

Pokemon:  
  
Secret of the Journal  
  
Chapter 1  
  
Day at the Movies  
  
"I was storming White City one day, in the dark and stormy month of May. I was taken by surprise, by a really skinny guy, then Officer Jenny took me away!"  
  
"Hey, Giovanni! Shut up!"  
  
"Yeah, you've been singin' ever since they brought you in!"  
  
The inmates were restless. After the new prisoner, Giovanni, had been brought in, they had been all riled up. Giovanni had been the leader of a large gang that had overtaken Goldenrod City and all the rest of Johto.  
  
"So, Giovanni, how'd they get ya?"  
  
"Well, I had the entire country and an army of genetically-enhanced Pokemon at my disposal. But I got greedy. I wanted more. I wanted the capital: White City. So we moved out of Goldenrod and charged towards White. When we got there, this kid that had been causing problems for me since the beginning had put together an army of his own. They charged us, and he confronted me. Then he made me feel responsible for everything that had happened. I was, but I don't know why he got to me. Anyway, I surrendered and they sent me here."  
  
"What were the charges?"  
  
"Illegal experiments on Pokemon, terrorism, and murder."  
  
"Who'd ya kill?"  
  
"Some girl. I used her to get at that kid, Jim, then she escaped and was caught in the blast of the Radio Tower. She didn't survive."  
  
"Wow. You blew up the Tower?"  
  
"Yeah. Only because Jim was in it. Then the girl pushed him out a window and died instead."  
  
* * *  
  
My name is Jim. I saved the world.  
  
But I thought that was all over. I thought I could go back to school, hang out with my friends, go on the new trip in a couple months.  
  
Boy was I wrong.  
  
It was a new school year at EPA. I had made some new friends. All the people I had met before had gone home, except for those that were already at the school, and those that lived in White City. Anyway, you've already met the new ones from the other campus.  
  
One Friday afternoon, after school, Goliath and I were heading for the movie theater to meet some other friends. Shadow was running by my side as we pedaled our Bikes. A Pidgeotto flew next to Goliath.  
  
I saw the theater and pedaled harder. The big guy wasn't even trying, and he was beating me! I sighed and just tried to keep up with him.  
  
I saw Philip and the visiting Bryan standing in line for tickets, saving us spots. I stopped and chained my bike to the rack. I took my place behind Bryan and saw a red-haired girl standing with him. She was kind of short, with long red hair.  
  
"Who's this?" I asked.  
  
The Vermillion City Police Chief sighed. "My sister, Tyler. She came with me to White, and then insisted on coming to the movie."  
  
"That's okay," said Goliath. "Where's Courtney?"  
  
"I dunno. She should have been here by now," said Phil. I noticed a strange gold object hanging around his neck. I didn't ask.  
  
"D'you think we should wait for her?" I asked.  
  
Goliath began to say yeah, when my phone rang. I pulled up the antenna on my Pokegear and said, "Excuse me," as I walked off to hear.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Jim, it's Courtney."  
  
"Howdy, ma'am."  
  
"Cut it out with the hick thing!"  
  
"Okay, okay, sorry. What's up?"  
  
"I won't make it. There's this crazy traffic jam on Main Street and we're not movin'."  
  
"That's okay. You want us to wait for you?"  
  
"No, I'll just see it next week with Carol."  
  
"Okay, see you tomorrow at school."  
  
"All right. Bye." There was a click, and she hung up.  
  
I closed my Gear and returned to the line, which was pretty close to the ticket counter.  
  
"That was Courtney. She can't make it."  
  
"Oh, well. Hey, watch it, Pidge!" said Goliath, who had been pecked by his bird.  
  
"One for X-Mon, please," said Jessica's cousin, who had reached the front.  
  
"Five dollars." Philip handed him the five and grabbed his ticket.  
  
Bryan was next. "Two for X-Mon."  
  
"Ten bucks." The cop took five from his sister and handed that plus his to the guy behind the window.  
  
I stepped up. "One Student and one Pokemon for the X-Mon."  
  
"Student ID?"  
  
I pulled out my Pokedex and showed him my ID.  
  
"Jim Hawkwind? The Jim Hawkwind?!?"  
  
"Uh…yeah…"  
  
"Wow! Can I have your autograph?"  
  
"Can I have my tickets?"  
  
He grabbed the only thing that I could write on, a styrofoam cup of PokeFizz, and I signed it. He handed me the two tickets.  
  
I walked into the theater. There was a large crowd for the opening day of The Uncanny X-Mon: The Movie. Phil was a huge fan, and I wanted to go anyway, so we all had decided to go opening day.  
  
A girl behind a little booth took my tickets and ripped off the stubs. She handed them back to me and told me that the room was on my right past the candy counter.  
  
I began to walk past the long lines leading up to the popcorn and soda when Houndour growled and pulled on his leash. "Shadow, no, you want a snack?" I asked. The dog-like Pokemon nodded.  
  
"Oh, all right. But something small. How about a popcorn?" I got in line and waited until I got to the front. There, I bought a $4.75 bag of popcorn and almost used up the last of that day's spending money. Since I had saved White, the city had given me a large reward. I only got a small percentage of it each day, and that day's was gone.  
  
I made my way to the room on the right, which was labeled "X-Mon." I saw the others, who had saved two seats for me and my dog. I sat down and waited for the movie to begin.  
  
I leaned over to Philip and asked, "What's with the artifact thingy?"  
  
"I dunno. It was a puzzle I bought at the game shop, and I solved it. Now I just hang it around my neck. It's cool, huh?"  
  
"Yeah." It was a golden pyramid, with an eye engraved on one side. "It's kinda weird, though."  
  
"Uh huh. Shh, the movie's starting!"  
  
The first preview was for The Incredible Muk, some guy who turned into a giant purple hunk of goo when he got mad.  
  
After three more annoying previews, the movie started. It was about Pokemon whose powers had gotten out of hand, and went to a special school to train for it. Then this crazed Magneton tried to take over the world, and they had to stop him.  
  
Right before the climax, the film stopped and the manager ran out in front of the screen. "I'm sorry to interrupt your film viewing, but there is some unknown… thing heading this way. We have been asked to evacuate the area. The thing is destroying buildings and cars. We will accept your ticket stubs as rain checks after this is cleared up."  
  
Everyone began to panic. "Please do not panic!" the manager tried to say, but nobody listened. I ran out to the sidewalk to see what was going on. All I could see were explosions in bright blue.  
  
I had only seen that shade of blue once before. Only in a tunnel dug deep under the earth. That glow saved my life and my friends' lives. That glow came from somebody who I believed was dead… 


	2. I'm Back

Chapter 2  
  
"I'm Back!"  
  
The sapphire light ripped through buildings and cars, causing large explosions up and won the street. I looked for the central point of the disaster, but I saw no source, at least in my range of vision.  
  
I threw a Ball, belonging to my Crobat. "Pinky, go!" The alternately- colored bat was large enough to carry me, so I jumped on and rode up into the smoke-filled air.  
  
It tried to distinguish where the energy was coming from, and I saw a figure, shrouded in azure light. It looked female. I had been right.  
  
Jessica was back.  
  
"Set down near that Poke Mart, Pinky." He flew down and landed next to the little store. I looked around the corner from the alley and saw my ex- girlfriend floating three feet in the air and shooting blue bursts out every way possible.  
  
I sent out all my Pokemon. Wigglytuff, Clefable, Azumarill, Power, Oddish, Cacti, Shadow, Goldark, Darkning, Darklett, Crobat, Umbreon, Rocky, and two new ones: Gastly and Dratini.  
  
"Everybody, go!" I yelled, throwing every Ball in my belt. Oddish and Cacti worked together to tie her legs up with vines. Darklett threw a Fissure in her path. She floated right over it. Everything my Pokemon tried failed.  
  
"Bryan, Philip, help!" I called. They rushed to aid me.  
  
Bryan did something that I had gotten used to. His brown hair turned blond and got longer. A sword appeared on his back. He became more muscular.  
  
"Where'd that sword come from?" asked Philip.  
  
Then he yelled something. As I listened, I made out what he said:  
  
"Phi-Lip-Ooooooooooooohhh!" His voice turned deeper by the time he was finished yelling. He was suddenly taller. He had been only an inch or two taller than I was; now he was almost a head taller! His eyes turned purple and gained an almost evil look. The gold object around his neck was floating and glowing, only held down by the chain.  
  
"What was that?" I asked.  
  
"Nothing," he said in his deep voice. "I'll explain later. Right now, we have a corpse to defeat!"  
  
I broke a branch off of a nearby tree and charged with the other two. Bryan drew his sword, Philip just had fists, and I had another staff, not unlike the one I had used in Johto.  
  
Bryan was the closest, but as soon as he reached the cerulean light, he flew backwards. "Gobryan!" I yelled.  
  
Philip ran as close as he could and stopped. A strange marking appeared on his forehead. It looked like the eye on the gold thingy! He reached out and yelled, "Mind Crush!" A strange light appeared, throwing everything into warped color. Then, when the color turned back normal…  
  
Philip was picked up and hurled across the street. "Phil!"  
  
"Okay, Pokemon, attack!" They charged with me. I stayed away from the light, but still close enough to strike. I swung left and right with the wooden weapon, but it had no effect.  
  
"Gastly, Night Shade!"  
  
He cast a dark shadow around her. She stopped.  
  
Out of nowhere, a blue minivan came tearing up the street. "Get back!" I screamed to the Pokemon. We jumped back just as the car collided with the darkness.  
  
It went straight through, knocking the body onto the hood. The pillar of shade broke with nothing inside. Jess fell off the front of the van and I saw who was driving: some crazy blonde chick that looked insane!  
  
The unconscious body lay on the street unmoving. I crept up to her and knelt down. How could she have survived the explosion that had taken her life only a few months ago?  
  
Then I remembered the dream that I had had after we were caught in the tunnel. She had some crazy powers that saved us all from the cave-in and that saved her from the Tower!  
  
I picked up the limp form and ran for the hospital. Maybe she could get help there. Bryan and Phil had picked themselves up from the dirt and joined me.  
  
I ran in. The woman at the front desk stood up. "What happened?" she asked.  
  
"Hit by a car," said Bryan, who had gone back to normal.  
  
"Hit-and-run," said the now-shorter Philip.  
  
"Can you get her into the ER?" I asked.  
  
"I think so." She pressed a button on her phone and said, "We have a hit- and-run victim up here. We need somebody up here, fast!"  
  
Soon, a doctor was examining her in the emergency room. "Well, she's got an arm fracture, but she'll be all right. Let's get this broken bone fixed over here!"  
  
A nurse ran up and set the bone right. They had a cast on her in another few minutes, and she woke up.  
  
"Jim? Where am I?"  
  
"You're in the hospital, in White."  
  
"White? How'd I get here? Last thing I remember, I pushed you out of the Tower, then it fell, and…"  
  
"You don't remember what just happened?"  
  
She shook her head.  
  
"Well, somehow you got back here and attacked the city."  
  
"I did what?"  
  
"You tore up Main Street."  
  
"Oh, man."  
  
"Yeah, then some crazy blonde ran you over and we brought you here."  
  
Phil jumped in. "Where'd that blonde come from, anyway?"  
  
"Same place as my sword. Nowhere. She just appeared…" said Bryan.  
  
Anyway…  
  
The doctor came in. "How are you feeling?" he asked.  
  
"I'm okay, just a little freaked out."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because I don't remember anything that happened since the Radio Tower fell."  
  
"Okay, I'll come back and check on you in a while," said the doctor.  
  
"We'll leave you two alone. You probably need to catch up," said Philip, and he, Bryan, and Tyler left.  
  
"You don't know what happened, do you?" I asked her.  
  
"No. What happened to Giovanni?" she asked.  
  
"We finally beat him a couple months ago."  
  
"A couple months ago?!? How long has it been?"  
  
"Well, that was in August, now it's October."  
  
"I've been out for that long?"  
  
"Yeah. Do you remember the tunnel?"  
  
"Under Celadon?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"I think so… It was a dead-end, wasn't it?"  
  
"Yeah. Do you remember the cave-in?"  
  
"I think so… Shadow howled, then a rock hit me on the head. I woke up like nothing had happened. The tunnel was normal."  
  
"That's what happened to me, too, but I also remember something else. It's almost a dream, but I remember that you saved us!"  
  
"How?"  
  
"You turned all blue and glowy."  
  
"Glowy? Is that a word?" She laughed. It was nice to see a smile on her face.  
  
"It is now. Anyway, the rocks that fell missed us because you deflected them with this blue shield thing."  
  
"How did I do that?"  
  
"I don't know. But then I had a dream. You were very young, and you fell into a Pokemon pit at the zoo."  
  
"I do remember that! But then I ended up back up on top, everyone crowded around me, and I was fine."  
  
"You don't remember your powers?"  
  
"What powers?"  
  
"I guess not. I believe that you have some strange abilities that protect you, but only when you are unconscious."  
  
"That's kind of a strange theory, Dr. Jim."  
  
"I know, but there has to be an explanation for you attacking us like you did."  
  
"I don't know."  
  
"Maybe you should rest. I'm gonna go home and check on my friends. A couple of them may be hurt. I'll be back."  
  
I headed home to call Goliath and Courtney. The big guy had disappeared in all the confusion, and Hick Girl had been stuck in traffic on that street.  
  
I called the Hulk first. "Hello?" asked his mother.  
  
"Is Goliath there?"  
  
"Yes, would you like to talk to him?"  
  
"Yes, please."  
  
"May I tell him who's calling?"  
  
"Jim."  
  
After a brief pause, the phone was picked up and I heard his familiar voice. "Hello?"  
  
"Hey, it's Jim."  
  
"I figured."  
  
"Yeah. Are you okay?"  
  
"Sure, why?"  
  
"You kinda disappeared in all the craziness."  
  
"Oh, yeah. I'm fine."  
  
"That's good. I'm gonna call our local Miltank farmer now. See ya."  
  
"All right. Bye."  
  
Click. I selected Courtney's number and pressed enter. It auto-dialed.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Howdy. Is Miss Courtney around?"  
  
"Speaking, Jim. Leave me alone!"  
  
"Sorry. Did you get out of that traffic jam all right?"  
  
"Uh-huh. I did see this weird blue light, but that was all."  
  
"Okay. That was Jessica."  
  
"Dead-as-a-doornail Jessica?"  
  
"Yes. I dunno how she survived, but she's here."  
  
"Wow."  
  
"Yep. So you're okay."  
  
"I'm fine."  
  
"Okay. Bye."  
  
"Bye."  
  
Later that night, we got a call from the hospital.  
  
"Jim, there's a problem with Jessica," said my mom, who had taken the call.  
  
"Oh, no. What?"  
  
"Well, as she was sleeping, something happened to the equipment. There was an explosion and they couldn't get into the room. When they finally beat the door down, there was nothing left in the room but ash and charred machines.  
  
"She probably burned to death. I'm sorry, honey."  
  
I sat down on my bed. "She's gone. Third time. Gone."  
  
"I know how much you cared for her."  
  
"I did. And I never told her. I never told her!"  
  
I broke down and cried. Mom left me alone for a while.  
  
She was gone. Again. I had lost her a third time. First, to Team Rocket. Then, to the Tower. Now, an unexplained explosion.  
  
She was gone this time. I was sure of it. 


	3. Dark Lesson

Chapter 3  
  
Dark Lesson  
  
Only a few people knew that Jessica had even come back: Bryan, Tyler, Philip, the doctors, and my mom. We hadn't even told her family. They had grieved enough already.  
  
After a while, I had to get over her. But I couldn't. I lost her, again. I wandered around school in a daze. My friends tried to ask what was wrong but I couldn't tell them.  
  
"Jim, there's got to be something wrong with you," said Carol. "You haven't been this down since.ever!"  
  
"It's kinda personal," I told her. It wasn't a lie.  
  
"Are you sure?"  
  
"I'm okay. I'll get over her--it in a few weeks."  
  
I did. I finally woke up one morning and felt a lot better. I was ready to take on the world again.  
  
The Dark class teacher asked me to cover for him in class again that day. I was excused from my regular class, Care for Pokemon.  
  
I entered the room, which was slowly filling up with students. I pulled out my lesson, which I had thrown together during Study Hall, this one about Darklett.  
  
Oak had studied my gene-Pokemon, and I got copies of his notes. I was also involved in some of the tests, so I knew about each Pokemon pretty well.  
  
When everyone sat down and the bell rang, I checked roll. I looked at each student's face when they answered. I saw some familiar faces, including my bud Isaac.  
  
"de Cos, Martín!" I said, seeing a kid with Mexican heritage answer, "Here!" He's new, I thought.  
  
I began the lesson by reviewing the origin of the Dark/Ground Pokemon.  
  
"As most of you know, I fought against the terrorist organization Team Rocket recently. In addition to their takeover of all of Johto and attempt for White, they performed illegal experiments and operations on Pokemon.  
  
"They apparently used certain types of drugs on a certain Pokemon and bred them with another. The drugs enhanced different trait-inheritance probabilities in the Baby.  
  
"They would breed Pokemon with a Dark-type, and force the Dark characteristics to manifest themselves with the use of the drugs.  
  
"You have seen the Goldeen mutate, named 'Goldark' by its creators, and 'Cacti', the Dark counterpart of Oddish, but this one is one that most people have not even heard of."  
  
I pulled out a Pokeball and said to the class, who were all on the edge of their seats, "I assure you, he's very tame. He's only attacked people twice, when he was wild and during the time of the new moon, which makes Dark-types stronger and wilder.  
  
"I present Darklett!"  
  
And there in the floor sat a black lump with a red nose and evil-looking eyes. It almost looked like a possessed Diglett. He sat in a hole I prepared beforehand.  
  
After a short lesson on the attacks and stats of my Pokemon, I finished with a homework assignment that the regular teacher had left and then asked for questions.  
  
But the bell rang right then.  
  
"Okay, catch me after class for those questions!" I said while everybody gathered their things. I followed suit and returned Darklett to its Ball.  
  
I was about to leave when a red-haired girl walked up to me. I recognized her as Chloe from the roll call list.  
  
"Um. Mr. Hawkwind?" she said uncertainly.  
  
"Jim."  
  
"Okay, Jim, you said that Team Rocket bred a Dark-type with an Oddish, a Goldeen, and a Diglett. Aren't they all in different egg groups, therefore incompatible?"  
  
"That's a really good question, because I dunno the answer. I'll get back to you on that."  
  
She was a little shorter than me, with shoulder-length strawberry-blonde hair and a lot of freckles. She was pretty cute. She looked about my age.  
  
"Hey, what grade are you in?" I asked.  
  
"In public school, I'd be in eighth. Here, I'm fifth."  
  
My age. "Cool, okay, I'll get you that answer."  
  
* * *  
  
Later, I was walking from Algebra 1, my least favorite class, when I ran into this girl in the hall. "You're Jim, right?" she asked.  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"I heard you taught the Dark class today. I'm in the Alternate Colorings class, and I heard you once had a green Zubat."  
  
"It's now a pink Crobat, but yes. Why?"  
  
"I was gonna ask the teacher if you would do a lesson on it."  
  
"Sure, if you can get permission."  
  
"My name's Maya. I'll see you around." She walked off, and I saw a white Charmander following behind her. I hadn't seen it before.  
  
"Hey, Maya!" I yelled after her. "Nice Charmander!"  
  
A strange voice replied, "Yeah, and I'm a whole lot better than any old Crobat!"  
  
I slowly turned and walked towards my SST class. It stood for Speed and Strength Training, the EPA equivalent of PE.  
  
I changed in the locker room into my gym clothes and headed for the cafeteria, where we met and then proceeded to the weight room for work out.  
  
Afterward, I was burned out. I was glad it was my last class, so I could go home and take a shower. Then I could visit Prof Oak about Chloe's question. I didn't have homework, since I had missed Pokemon Care, the only class I ever got homework in.  
  
After a cold shower I headed down the street to Oak's lab. I knocked on the door. "Professor? It's Jim Hawkwind!" There was no answer. I knocked again, and the entire door fell off its hinges!  
  
I stepped in to see what had happened. It looked like there had been a struggle. Papers were strewn all over the place. The computer was thrown on the floor, wires hanging off of it.  
  
I looked around, trying to find some trace of Oak. I found a scrap of paper with cut-and-paste letters from a newspaper.  
  
"We have Oak. If you ever wanna see him or Erika again, bring all your gene-Pokemon to the abandoned warehouse on Ampharos Street. Come alone. Signed, Sabrina and General Cos."  
  
Sabrina had been the Saffron Gym Leader until she betrayed us to Giovanni. They had also kidnapped Erika, the Celadon Gym Leader, and nobody ever found her after Giovanni was defeated.  
  
But who was this General Cos character? He had to be another of Giovanni's under-bosses.  
  
I couldn't give up my Pokemon. I would have to sneak into that warehouse and stop those two and save the hostages.  
  
I had to tell the others. They could help me.  
  
Author's Note: Maya and Flame Creamfire belong to moonymonster. I have special permission to use them from her. 


	4. Courtney: Range Wars

Chapter 4  
  
Courtney: Range Wars  
  
Back when my daddy was still alive, we had a much larger ranch, out on the open range. We raised Miltank, Tauros, and Mareep out on those green fields.  
  
My father had a special brand for the MooMoo ranch: two M's surrounded by a large oval.  
  
My momma was not strong enough to help out on the ranch, so it was just me and my dad.  
  
He took ill and lay on what I knew to be is death bed. One day, he called to me. "Courtney, my daughter, I will be gone soon, and you will have to run the ranch.  
  
"I want you to remember a few things. First, don't change the brand. I specially designed that brand where nobody can doctor it and steal our cattle. Second, when dealing with a potential customer or in anything business-related, give a fake Western accent. Also, your mother is alive, but she is weak. Therefore, you must work this entire ranch by yourself. If you mist hire hands, do it."  
  
"Yes, sir. Is that it?"  
  
He didn't answer. He had closed his eyes and peacefully died.  
  
* * *  
  
After a few months, things weren't going very well. I had bills to pay, I had cattle to feed, and, just to make my life easier, another ranch had moved in practically right next to mine! A bigger, more successful ranch.  
  
One afternoon, I was out taking the Mareep to the watering hole. A truck drove up the narrow dirt path that led from the mailbox and front gate up to the house. The window rolled down and a man in a nice suit and a cowboy hat leaned out.  
  
"You Courtney?" he asked.  
  
I remembered the accent when I said, "Who wants t' know?"  
  
"I do. Benjamin Edwards V," he said, holding out his hand. I didn't take it. He continued, "I just moved in next door. The Big V Ranch."  
  
I didn't care if he was the fifth or the fifteenth. He had come onto my property, trespassing, and had moved in right next to me so he could run some scam, either stealing my cattle or my land.  
  
I wasn't about to let him do that.  
  
"Listen here, pardner. Ah ain't about t' let you take mah property or mah cattle. Plus, yer trespassin'! Git off mah land afore Ah blow yer head off!" I said angrily, picking up my rifle, which had been lying in the grass.  
  
"Now you listen here, girl. I just came to let you know I'll be living next door, and you threaten me with a rifle! I was just being friendly!" He glared at me.  
  
"Ah don' care if y' live on th' moon! Git offa mah land!" I aimed my gun at his truck. "Don't make me use this!"  
  
He sighed, then turned to his steering wheel. Edwards backed his pickup around into the grass and around the other way, then hauled his sorry butt down the dirt road. Halfway, he stuck his head out the window and said, "You know this means war!" Then he sped off, ramming into the mailbox as he turned towards his own land.  
  
* * *  
  
Several weeks later, I was checking the abilities and status of my Tauros. I found several missing. I mounted my mare and rode around the outskirts of the ranch. I found an opening cut in the wire fence wide enough for a Tauros to fit through.  
  
I rode from the hole around to the gate and out onto the road. I trotted around to the next-door entrance. The gate was three times as big as mine, with a gigantic V on it.  
  
I saw a ranch hand and called out to him. "Hey, you! Yeah, you on the horse! Ah need to talk with yer boss!"  
  
He pulled out a cell phone and pressed only two digits, probably a shortcut to Edwards. "Yeah, Big V? He got a girl here. Yeah, looks like the girl from next. Ah'll send 'er up." He motioned for me to go on up the path.  
  
I reached a large mansion. He had built this thing in a month? It was at least two acres, plus an acre garage. The whole of it was blue, with white trim. Another big V was painted above the gigantic door in black.  
  
I dismounted and walked up to the door. I raised my fist to knock when it swung open. Nobody was behind it to open it when I looked inside.  
  
I spun around in a circle, trying to take it in. A voice from nowhere startled me. "Good Afternoon, Miss Courtney, isn't it? Please take the stairs and then enter through the sixth door on your right."  
  
I followed his directions and ascended the staircase. I looked to the left of the top stair and found a broom closet. He apparently had meant the other way. I looked right and saw a long hallway that must've had about fifteen doors on each side. I found the sixth and entered.  
  
Inside was an office, decorated with "Best of Fair" awards for fifty different cows and sheep. At the end of the long room was yet another V, cast from metal and stuck on the side of a desk.  
  
"Ah, you made it. Coffee?" asked Benjamin, who was sitting at the desk, as he held up a mug and pot.  
  
"No thanks. D'you know why Ah'm here?" I said furiously.  
  
"Actually, I do. About those cattle, correct? There was a very complicated mix-up. I won't bore you with the details, but your bulls are right down there." He pointed to a window. I looked out it.  
  
There, in the middle of the fields, surrounded by vaqueros, stood all five of my Tauros, grazing. I was enraged.  
  
"Mix-up?!? How's a mix-up gonna land mah Pokemon here?"  
  
"I'm not sure, but it did."  
  
"Why was there a hole in mah fence?"  
  
"I'm not sure what hole you are talking about, but I assure you, this was just a slight mistake on my part. Take your Tauros, and I'll tell one of my employees to let you pick out on of my baby Mareep to pay you back."  
  
I looked at him suspiciously. What kind of trick was this? He just smiled back.  
  
Still wary, I turned and walked back to the door and into the endless hallway. I took the stairs slowly, one at a time, so I could figure out his plan.  
  
Maybe he had messed with the brand to where it would look like maybe I had stolen his beef, not the other way around. I had no idea.  
  
I exited the house and approached the cowhands handling my Pokemon. One was talking on his phone. He hung up and said, "You can pick out your sheep."  
  
He led me to a pen filled with balls of fluff. Most were asleep. I searched through and chose a nice, lean one with soft wool. I carried it back to my horse, which I mounted and rounded up my cattle.  
  
I rode back and put the cattle and lamb away, then rode to get some spare wire to patch the hole in my barrier. As we trotted up, I saw a shape at the fence. "Ha," I whispered to Ponyta, who sped up a little.  
  
The person was running towards the metal ropes. I charged up and blocked the hole by stopping my mare sideways against it.  
  
I saw the guy and recognized him as the ranch hand who had led me into the neighboring ranch. He had a bag on his back.  
  
"What's in the bag, pardner?" I asked casually.  
  
"Uh. nothin'," he replied shakily.  
  
"Lemme see this 'nothin'." The bag was too bulky to be empty. He dropped the bag and ten or more black round objects rolled out.  
  
"What're these?" I demanded.  
  
"They're called Thief Balls."  
  
"Where'd they come from?"  
  
"Ah'm not sure, the boss got 'em."  
  
"Mister Fifth, eh? Let's see him worm his slimy way outta this one." I grabbed the guy and the balls and hauled him onto the pony.  
  
We rode out in the orangey light of dusk. I didn't even wait for anybody to let me in. Ponyta blew Embers onto the gate, burning it away as I rode through.  
  
I dragged my new buddy up the stairs and into the sixth door. There, at his desk, sat Ben Eddie V.  
  
"Courtney? How'd you get in here?" he asked with a curse.  
  
"Trying to get some answers, 'Big V'.  
  
"I found this guy with this bag. Inside were several strange Pokeballs. Your employee told me you got a hold of them. I also noted the red R on each one. I wonder where you got them. Explain that. And I don't want any junk about a mix-up either." I didn't even care about using my accent, and I said something worse than 'junk', but I can't repeat it to keep this story rated G.  
  
"Um.well.you see." he began, but I stopped him.  
  
"Yes, I do see! Perfectly well, too. Let me see your computer." He already had the internet up, so I went to a search engine and typed a phrase.  
  
Search for: "thief ball". I surrounded it in quotes to get the whole phrase, not word by word.  
  
3 matches found for "thief ball".  
  
1. TRocket.com/store/secure- Top Secret Items. Buy Team Rocket technology for cheap! Thief Ball- 1500. Laser Whip.  
  
The other two were not what I was looking for, so I just clicked the first.  
  
"Password protected" flashed on screen. Suddenly, a password program popped up. "Fill-in password for this website?" it asked. I clicked OK.  
  
The site appeared: Team Rocket's Official Website- Shop. I smiled. "So, you go to this site often?" I asked V.  
  
He didn't answer. All he did was sit there and sweat.  
  
No matter. I had all the evidence I needed. I picked up the phone on his desk and dialed 911. Within half an hour, Edwards was in handcuffs and was being taken away by several duplicate officers.  
  
* * *  
  
After all that, I was still in financial trouble. I still couldn't afford the large ranch and all the Pokemon.  
  
I ended up selling the ranch. I kept a select few of my stock, but there still was no way I could keep all of my Pokemon.  
  
Then, my mother died, so I was alone. I met an old friend, who offered to let me stay with her for a while. Kerry lived in Violet, so I also had to attend the Earl's Pokemon Academy there.  
  
When the building was destroyed, we were all transferred to the White campus. I moved there with Kerry, and we went to school there.  
  
We met Jim and other people. Life was pretty normal after that, until Jim came back from Oak's lab one day. 


	5. The Arcade

A/N: For an explanation of how the backpack works, read Flame Creamfire, by moonymonster, who also owns Maya and Flame herself. In case you were wondering, each chapter will alternate from the storyline to solo chapters about several of the main characters.  
  
Chapter 5  
  
The Arcade  
  
I pulled off my backpack and pulled my bike out of it. I jumped on and pedaled as hard as I could towards the usual hangout, an arcade called the Trainer.  
  
I stood next to the Whack-a-Diglett game, where nobody else was, and pulled out my Pokegear. Inserting the green phone cartridge, I dialed furiously.  
  
"Courtney? 'S Jim. Trainer, now!" I said quickly.  
  
"What? You didn't call me Hick Girl. What's wrong?"  
  
"Just get here ASAP." I hung up.  
  
Within fifteen minutes, everyone had gathered.  
  
"What's goin' on, Jim? I'm missin' the skateboard competition!" said Steve, who kept up with the standing of these competitions and wasn't bad himself.  
  
"Yoink!" said Bob, grabbing the hammer for the game behind me. "Y'know, I'd probably be a better klepto if I didn't say "Yoink" every time I stole something." he said sadly.  
  
Courtney and her friend Kerry ran up. At the sight of Courtney, I yelped and Philip said, "Goo!"  
  
"What did you do to your hair?" asked Goliath. It was red!  
  
Kerry replied bubbily, "She dyed it!"  
  
Courtney looked embarrassed. "It didn't turn out too well."  
  
"That doesn't matter right now! Sabrina and some nut called General Cos have kidnapped the Prof and they still have Erika!" I said loudly without meaning to.  
  
"You shot who in that what now?" asked somebody around the corner. It was the same voice that I had heard earlier at school! Maya and her white Charmander came popped their heads around.  
  
"Oops, didn't mean to be so loud. Who said that?" I asked. The voice couldn't've been Maya.  
  
"Sorry," she said. "This is Flame Creamfire. Somehow, before I met her, she learned to talk."  
  
I looked, puzzled, at the Fire-type. It was completely white, with a cream belly and tail-flame. I knelt down for a closer look.  
  
"What're you lookin' at, bud?" she asked, making me jump back in surprise.  
  
"Sorry," I mumbled, getting back up. "Okay, I guess you two heard what I said. Oak and Erika are bein' held for ransom, and payment is my gene- Pokemon."  
  
"But you can't give those away!" said Isaac.  
  
"I know. I think we can sneak into warehouse and break them out ourselves."  
  
"How're we gonna do that?" asked Courtney.  
  
"I'm not sure. I don't even know which warehouse they mean."  
  
"I do," said Steve suddenly. "I'll check it out and be back in a while." He mounted his black board and took off. As he grinded on the side of a rail, the manager yelled at him.  
  
"How many times do I hafta tell you stinkin' kids: no skating inside!"  
  
* * *  
  
A half-hour later, I had beaten Goliath fifteen times on the Battle Simulator, where you plugged in your Pokedex and battled on a simulation. Presently, I was busy blasting bugs on Weedle.  
  
I only had one segment of the worm left to destroy when a Spinarak came down quickly and killed my last Bug Zapper. "Crud!" I said, realizing that I was out of tokens.  
  
A small claw tapped me on the shoulder. I jumped, then turned to see Maya's abnormal Charmander standing behind me. "Beat you in X-Mon Arcade?" she offered, indicating a machine next to mine.  
  
"You wish, lizard," I said, taking my place next to her. I wasn't about to let some smart-aleck talking Pokemon beat me at my game.  
  
She chose a blue Ditto as her fighter; I picked a Sneasel wearing an orange spandex uniform. We chose the random option when the time came to choose a battle arena.  
  
Immediately after the game said "Begin", the Ditto transformed into my Sneasel. I hacked and slashed with my mutant's claws. She struck back with the same attack.  
  
I tried to remember the button combo for Rage. Up, up, down, strong punch, weak kick, what next?  
  
Suddenly, Flame Creamfire rapidly pressed a series of buttons that launched a volley of slashes on my golden Dark-type. With one final jab with the claws, my character flew across the screen and hit the ground, defeated.  
  
"Winner- Blue Ditto" flashed across the screen.  
  
"That's it. This time, I buy," I told the reptile. "Klepto, gimme back my tokens."  
  
"What tokens?" asked Bob.  
  
"I heard you 'Yoink' them earlier."  
  
He cussed. "I need to work on that. Here." He handed me five bronze tokens, two of which I promptly inserted into the slot.  
  
Before selecting my character, I pressed my own special button sequence, unlocking a new character.  
  
Selecting the new Pidgey character, I grinned at Charmander. "What's that little thing gonna do?" She had no idea.  
  
"Uh-uh. Not tellin'." I mimed zipping my lips.  
  
Thinking she could steal whatever trick I was about to pull, Flame chose Ditto. I smiled evilly and chuckled.  
  
"What're you laughin' about, Jim?"  
  
"Oh, you'll see."  
  
As soon as the screen changed to our battlefield, a sapphire blob and a tiny brown bird dropped from on top of floating platforms. The former became the latter, but then, unlike hers, my Pidgey flew up and was engulfed in a burning inferno.  
  
As the smoke cleared, a Moltres was revealed, its blazing wings sparkling as beautifully as they could in a video game.  
  
"Meet the Phoenix." I pressed the Medium Punch button, sending a firestorm down at the tiny bird, frying it like at KFC in seconds.  
  
"Winner- Phoenix" blinked several times before Flame's voice came back. "Why didn't mine transform into the big bird?"  
  
"That's one of Moltres' properties: Ditto may copy its shape, but not its invincibility and strength as the Phoenix."  
  
She looked at me in disbelief. "You couldn't've told me that sooner?"  
  
"Nah. Wanted to let you see that nobody beats Hawkwind at X-Mon."  
  
"Apparently not."  
  
I decided to see what everyone else was doing. Courtney, naturally, was hooked on the Milking for Tickets game, which was a large plastic Miltank whose udder lit up and you had to pull on it. She was raking in tickets quickly. She said she was saving for something big.  
  
Bob was sitting in a chair, shaking. "Klepto, what's wrong?" asked Kerry.  
  
"Must.keep.from.stealing." he kept muttering. He had never gone over an hour without stealing something, and even half was a strain. Bob was sweating profusely by this point.  
  
Philip and Goliath were arm wrestling at another table. Even though Phil was about two years older than the rest of us, Big G was strong enough to be two, maybe three years older. Both were grunting and groaning, large purple veins popping out on their arms. Maya sat beside them, watching and laughing.  
  
Isaac had found the skateboarding game and was pulling tricks like he did them every day. He probably did, too.  
  
I found Carol sitting at a table alone. She was reading a large, old book. The pages were yellowed and torn. The binding was falling apart.  
  
"Whatcha readin'?" I asked curiously.  
  
She looked up and was about to answer when Steve zoomed in, knocking over a chair near the entrance. Jumping off the board, he flipped it into his hand by stepping on the end. He was panting wildly when he tried to talk.  
  
"Cos.got Oak.in warehouse.crazy Pokemon."  
  
"Whoa, dude, take a breath."  
  
He sat down and breathed deeply. Finally able to breathe, he said, "Cos has the hostages in the warehouse, but they have guards. Lots of 'em. I dunno what we're gonna do."  
  
"What kinds of guards?"  
  
"Gene-Pokemon."  
  
A/N: Weedle is the Pokemon version of Centipede, if you couldn't tell. Also, you can probably figure out the names of the X-Men represented in X- Mon. 


	6. Philip: In Debt

Chapter 6  
  
Philip: In Debt  
  
A/N: Remember that we are using the Pokemon monetary system and everything in the game would be expensive in dollars.  
  
Oh, sure, Jim saved the world. Did the guy who brought in reinforcements get anything? No! Jim, big hero that he was, got all the glory.  
  
I really didn't care. I just liked making a big deal of it 'cause it was fun.  
  
Anyway, after I got back, I was still in debt. Why was I in debt? I won't go into it but.  
  
Okay, I'll get into it. You convinced me.  
  
I became a bag boy at the big Pokemon Dept. Store in White. Sackers didn't get paid very much, but I needed the money.  
  
I was just minding my own business one day, flirting with Natalie, the red- headed girl at my register, when some guy caught my eye. He had a funny look to him, like you knew he was up to no good. I knew he wasn't when he broke into a run.  
  
"Hey, don't run in the store!" I yelled.  
  
He paid no heed. And he had a cart full of items, too! "I'm talkin' to you, buster! Stop!"  
  
Somebody called out, "thief!" I wondered if they meant this guy, when my wonder became knowledge as he turned towards the front doors and ran harder!  
  
"Dude, come back!" He just ran. I pulled out a Pokeball. Inside was my Ninetails, who had never failed me before. Maybe this time it could get me a promotion.  
  
I chased the guy out into the parking lot, where he rammed through with his cart, knocking over an old lady and denting several cars.  
  
He reached a black pickup. Dumping the contents of the cart into the bed in back, he opened the door and was about to get inside.  
  
"Ninetails, Fire Blast!"  
  
A large flame was hurled at the truck. The guy jumped out right as the blast hit.  
  
The automobile exploded in a giant fireball and all the stolen items burned up.  
  
Except for one. You know why?  
  
Neither do I, but that little Potion survived.  
  
Anyway.  
  
The guy looked at me and fainted.  
  
I sweatdropped. Uh oh.  
  
The manager ran up. I'll give you the G-rated version of what he said. "What happened here? Those were our most expensive items, you idiot!"  
  
He continued to chew me out with a few more curses, then got sick of me and moved on to Natalie. "Why didn't you stop this guy over here? You work right next to him; you coulda kept him from blowin' up our goods!"  
  
She looked at the ground and I saw wet teardrops fall from her face and to the ground. Suddenly enraged, I stormed up to my boss and stood between them.  
  
"Leave her alone! It wasn't her fault, it was mine! So leave the girl outta this! I'll pay for the stinkin' goods!" I screamed at him.  
  
All he did was blink, then say, "Okay, you're fired. Both of you. But I still expect payment for the destruction you've caused."  
  
I turned to Natalie and said, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean for you to lose your job."  
  
"It's okay. I was gonna quit in a few days anyway." The tears were gone.  
  
"Thanks," I said, and we walked off together. "I'll buy you a PokeFizz."  
  
* * *  
  
A few weeks later, she had a job as a waitress at the Trainer, while I was still unemployed. Word had spread throughout the other PokeMarts that I was trouble, so they all turned me down.  
  
I had only one choice.  
  
I picked up the phone. "Hey, Uncle David? It's Philip. I hear you have a position open at your shop. yeah. I need the money, so I'm willing to work as many hours as I can."  
  
My uncle owned the small shop in Mt. Moon Square, and he wasn't able to run it by himself. I got a job as his assistant, which meant doing basically all the work.  
  
One day, they had the tunnel closed, so nobody could get to the shop. I got the day off, but I couldn't get anywhere for a few hours, so I was wandering around. I ended up behind the store, where I found an old car.  
  
After looking under its hood, I found that it would never run again, but the parts were still good. If my unc would let me.  
  
"Sure, you can have it. It doesn't work anymore; why do you want it?" he asked.  
  
"I was looking at the parts, and I might sell them to help my debt."  
  
"Good idea. Take it."  
  
I rooted around inside and found all the reusable parts. Next I took them down to the auto shop.  
  
"I'll give you $5000 for them."  
  
"All right, I'll take that." I grabbed his money and walked off.  
  
Next to the door was a pile of junk metal. "Hey, Joe, what's with these parts?"  
  
"Somebody brought 'em in here, but they can't be used on cars. You want 'em?"  
  
"Okay." I put them in the backpack that I had brought everything else in and walked home. I had a plan for these.  
  
Once there, I put my scheme into action. I used the junk to build a model of an Articuno. Nobody would be strong enough to even want to battle a Legendary Bird.  
  
My plan began to work after a few weeks. I would challenge customers to battles, then send out Articuno. Everybody would chicken out and hand over their money.  
  
After paying my payment for the month to my ex-boss, I had a little left. I bought some more metal and built a Mewtwo.  
  
One day, this guy came around who wanted to battle. He sent out a Fastforwurd and short-circuited my robot. I gave up and had to pay him a little bit of money.  
  
A week later, Jim came around. After defeating my Articuno, he gave me a little money, which I did use, but had some left over. I made these things I called Pokebelts for them.  
  
Then my uncle found out what I was doing. He fired me, and I had to find another job. Natalie put in a good word for me at the Vermillion Mart, so they hired me.  
  
Then Jim showed up again. I ended up going with him eventually, but after we saved the world, I was still in debt.  
  
I worked a few more months at Vermillion and finished off the money I owed to White. I went out with the twenty bucks left and saw the antiques shop.  
  
Through the window, a strange gold object caught my eye. It was a puzzle. I bought it and tried to figure it out. After two months of pushing the pieces together, only to find them in the wrong place, I finished it.  
  
I thought nothing of it until we went to the movies and a face from the past showed up. 


	7. The Extremely Random Pointless Chapter W...

Chapter 7  
  
The Extremely Random and Pointless Chapter Which is Also Kinda Short  
  
A/N: This chapter has no point except that Kerry gets eaten. It can and should be completely ignored. I still own nothing besides most of the characters.  
  
The city of White: a peaceful place, if you ignore the  
  
GIANT ANT!!!  
  
* * *  
  
"Where'd that voice come from?" I asked. There was a crash outside. I ran out to see what it was  
  
People were running around screaming as buildings and cars were smashed by six long legs covered in tiny hairs. Looking up, I saw that the legs were attached to one of three enormous body segments, one of which being a head, with antenna, large eyes, and chomping mouth parts!  
  
The others ran out behind me. I heard several unrepeatable words; the speakers will remain anonymous.  
  
Philip yelled, "Phi-Lip-Oh!" and got taller again, with purple eyes. He ran up to the insect from. somewhere. and yelled, "Oblivion!"  
  
All that accomplished was getting a leg knocked into him and being kicked fifty feet away, through a car, and into a smelly dumpster.  
  
I looked up near the ant's head and saw a familiar sword gleaming in the sun, wielded by a familiar cop with yellow hair. "Where'd that sword come from?" I thought.  
  
Then I saw a certain strawberry-blonde, frozen with terror, about to be stepped on. Without thinking, I jumped into her to protect her from the crushing appendage of the creepy-crawly. I knocked her to the sidewalk and was about to be smashed when a Kamehameha blast blasted the leg clean off and through the Trainer's front window. "What the goo is that?" I heard.  
  
"Chloe, are you all right?" I helped her off the concrete.  
  
"Yeah." She smiled. I melted. Wow.  
  
Suddenly, a blue minivan that I felt like I had seen before tore past, driven by a blonde nut, straight through the mass that was my friends. Everybody moved except Kerry, who was knocked extremely high up and, coincidentally, straight into the mandibles of the beast.  
  
Chloe fainted straight into my arms. I carried her limp body into a furniture store and laid her on a couch. I ran back out to make sure everybody else was all right.  
  
One of the waitresses from the arcade, Natalie, ran out. She also happened to be Phil's."special friend". Taking one look at the giant monster, she said nothing. Then she saw Phil, who looked slightly different when he was taller and covered in trash, and said, "Is that Philip?"  
  
Being his sarcastic self and not paying attention to who it was, he said, "No, it's the Easter B-- Natalie?!?" He slapped himself on the forehead and returned to the melee.  
  
My Pokemon couldn't help any; they'd just be smashed. All I could do was hope that Phil and Gobryan could handle this.  
  
Suddenly, I heard a very strange, almost cartoon-like sound in the air above me. It sounded like something moving extremely fast.  
  
"What the goo is that?" asked Goliath, referring to a tri-colored rainbow: blue, pink, and green. It stopped, and there at the end were three small forms.  
  
"Sugar, spice, and everything nice: these were the ingredients chosen to create the perfect little girls," Philip said randomly.  
  
"What?" Steve asked.  
  
"But, Professor Utonium accidentally added an extra ingredient to the concoction." " Who's Professor Utonium?" asked Courtney.  
  
".Chemical X!" At this point he made strange sound effects.  
  
"What's Chemical X?" yelled Carol.  
  
"Thus, the Powerpuff Girls were born! Using their ultra super powers, there three have dedicated their lives to fighting crime and the forces of evil!!!"  
  
"Who the monkey are the Powerpuff Girls?!?" asked Isaac.  
  
"Apparently those three girls fighting up there," I said.  
  
Then Phil started humming a theme song or something. "Oh my goo, Phil's lost it," said Bryan.  
  
Suddenly, the three girls shot red laser beams out of their eyes. It fell awkwardly on its five legs, but scrambled back up and tried to eat the girls.  
  
The pink one yelled something, and they all flew up and then shot back down, creating a fire which took the shape of a strange cat, then burned the ant to a crisp. They then flew away.  
  
"And so, once again, the day is saved, thanks to. the Powerpuff Girls!" said a voice from above.  
  
"Who said that?" I asked.  
  
We just stood there and blinked at the smoldering pile of ash that was once a towering insect from the bad place.  
  
Bob ran out of a nearby convenience store with his arms full of candy bars. "Yoink!" he yelled loudly, and he ran off.  
  
A/N: He he. that was pointless, and so was the cameo of the Powerpuffs. I had to do that, I couldn't help myself. 


	8. Rob: Wipeout

Chapter 8  
  
Rob: Wipeout  
  
A/N: I decided to elaborate on Rob's identity as a surfer, but since he's not a main character anymore, I had to do it in his own solo chapter. Here is that chapter. It takes place sometime between Dark Plot and Journal. (This is revised, because I changed the rest of the plot a little.)  
  
Aloha, dude.  
  
Sorry, had to start out like that.  
  
I was just chillin' in my room one day, listenin' to some tunes, when my sister comes in and asks, "Hey, Rob, me and George are goin' to the beach next Wednesday. You wanna come? You can invite." She counted on her fingers. ".three friends. That's all the room I have in my van, plus food and gear."  
  
"Cool. I'll invite Jim and Jack and May!"  
  
George was her boyfriend, why was he making her drive?  
  
Anyway.  
  
I loved summer vacation: going to the beach and surfing, hangin' out with my friends. I hadn't been on my board since before I joined the Gym. I was way outta practice.  
  
I called my friends all within the next fifteen minutes and plans were made.  
  
We drove cross-country all the way from Cerulean to Olivine in Johto in my sister's blue minivan. As it turned out, George drove, but his car was too small even for two people and all the things they were taking just between the two of them. Rachael, my sister, brought three swimsuits ("What if one of them gets wet?"), and a ton of sunscreen and tanning oil. George had a surfboard and then some scuba gear just in case.  
  
Jim kept asking why Rach looked so familiar, and why the van did, too. I told him I didn't know, and he just shrugged and turned his CD player back on.  
  
Me and May sat in the front, with two seats, and Jim and Jack were in the three-seater in the back with the "gear". Every time I looked back there, Jack was staring off into space and Jim was mouthing along with his CD.  
  
"Dude, what's up?" I asked Jack, but he didn't answer. Not wanting to pry, I gave up.  
  
I directed my attention to my book, "What kind of Pokemon Are You?" There was a quiz at the beginning, followed by a chapter for each type once you figured out what you were. I, naturally, was water, with a thirst for adventure (no pun intended).  
  
I let May take the quiz. Her answers pointed to a tie between Dark and Grass, like Cacti. I laughed at the fact that she was a "psycho with a love for plants". She said this was true.  
  
After a brief stop to get gas, Rachael switched from shotgun to driver's seat. I made sure my seatbelt was tight; she had a bad rep for driving.  
  
We almost hit three old ladies, a woman with a baby stroller, five skateboarding kids (one of which Jim pointed out as Steve, a friend of his), and two guys with briefcases, all in the same city!  
  
We were gonna die.  
  
Finally, after several near-death experiences where I was convinced we were gonna meet the maker, we reached Olivine. We parked and unloaded everything. I didn't wait for them to choose a spot for the towels before grabbing my surfboard and running out to the waves.  
  
I paddled out on my stomach towards a rather large one and stood up as it took me away.  
  
"Woo-hoo!" I yelled as my board hit the crest of the water, then back down onto yet another wave. I went up and down for ever, then was finally overtaken by a wave I didn't see. I stood up on the wet sand and shook the water out.  
  
I noticed that there was no breeze, yet there were a lot of waves. I wondered why, but shrugged it off and jumped back in the water.  
  
I saw that the other three had rented a boat and had attached the floats on the back by ropes. As Jack piloted, Jim and May held on for dear life to the floats. Jim was belly-down on the larger one, while May sat in the round tube.  
  
Jack seemed to find the bigger waves easily. Jim kept flying up into the air off of the top of a larger ripple. May never flipped off, but Jim's buoyant craft kept knocking him off. Jack would slow down and swing back around to let him back on.  
  
Seeing another boat, the Electric specialist followed in their wake. They left two wrinkles in the water, both of which hit Jim hard, throwing him several feet away, near me.  
  
I scooped him up on my board. He was unconscious. I tried to get back to shore when a tsunami-class wave picked me up and took me so far away from shore that I could not see the shoreline.  
  
Okay, maybe it wasn't tsunami-class, and I was just exaggerating, but yeah.  
  
I turned to see where I was going. The wave was taking me towards what looked like a pillar of water rising out of the water.  
  
"What the--?" mumbled Jim, waking up. He threw up water, and then sat up. "Whoa! How'd I get here?"  
  
"You fell into the water, away from the boat. As soon as I picked you up, this wave carried us out here."  
  
He saw the column of water in the distance. "What's that?"  
  
"I don't know, but we're about to find out!"  
  
The water rose up, moving faster, and we were at the base of the thing, whatever it was. Suddenly, all the water around us became calm. The liquid shrouding the tall object broke away, revealing a human-like shape.  
  
"What is that?" I screamed.  
  
"I don't know, but it's." started Jim.  
  
Suddenly, a cloud of black stuff swooped over my head. We both ducked. I looked at the figure again. It was waving its arms, directing the cloud!  
  
"It's controlling it somehow!" I said above the waves and the strange noises coming from the shadow.  
  
"Look, it's made up of a lot of things!" said Jim.  
  
"Are those."  
  
"Unown!" we both said.  
  
They came at us again, chattering madly.  
  
"Maybe we can defeat them all!" said Jim.  
  
"But what about. that?" I pointed at the. thing.  
  
"Will it make them any stronger?"  
  
"Maybe, but we've gotta try anyway."  
  
I sent out Godzilla, my Feraligatr, and Jim chose Goldark.  
  
"Attack the Unown!" he commanded, and both Pokemon obeyed.  
  
Goldark used Hyper Beam; Feraligatr, Hydro Pump.  
  
Entire sections fell out of the cloud and into the water, where each little Unown floated there, helpless. The Pokemon repeated their assault, knocking out even more.  
  
Finally, when the cloud was gone, the strange form turned to us. It almost looked human, but its skin was greenish. Its eyes glowed red and it had claws where its fingers should have been. Somehow, it was floating up in the air.  
  
"What are you?" yelled Jim.  
  
The thing didn't answer. All it did was look past us, to where another enormous was rising to crash on top of us. Then it turned away and raced off, skimming above the waves.  
  
The wave was coming, faster and faster. Just as it was bearing down on us, a white thing smashed through it and came at us.  
  
"It's Jack and May!"  
  
As they raced past us, we both grabbed a tube on the back and held on for dear life. Even though Jim's flipped over and he was smashed underneath it, he held on until the wave died out.  
  
We climbed on board and went back to shore.  
  
"I don't think we've seen the last of that thing that attacked us," said Jim. In the distance, we saw a black cloud rise up and continue on in the direction the thing had gone.  
  
"No," I said, watching the Unown fly off. "Not the last at all."  
  
On the drive back, Rachael asked why we were so quiet. No one answered. We all knew that she couldn't understand.  
  
Jim popped a CD in and put on his headphones.  
  
"Intricate are you among the masses!" it screamed. It was so loud, that the whole car could hear it.  
  
"Jim, turn that thing down!" said George. We all laughed dryly.  
  
AN: There it was: revised and ready for the slight plot change. If you can tell me what song Jim was listening to, I will give you a cookie. Anyway.watch out for evel Coses. 


	9. Rocket Base

AN: Hey, everybody! Journal's back! I got stuck on First Missions, so I'm back to this one! I'll eventually start again with FM, but for now, SotJ is in the house.  
  
Chapter 9  
  
Rocket Base  
  
Within fifteen minutes, we had gathered up everything and were ready to go kick some more black-garbed butt. I zipped up my vest, each pocket with Pokeballs and Items. Goliath wrapped a "Philip brand" Pokebelt around his waist. Hick Girl put a rope through a belt loop. I laughed, picturing her with a lasso, roping Grunts. Bob yoinked a random Pokeball that was sitting on a table and pocketed it. Isaac grabbed his skateboard, Steve mimicking him.  
  
Philip pulled out several strange of his inventions, none of which I recognized. He also grabbed a scorched Potion bottle, why I don't know, and winked at Natalie. Maya checked Flame's stats on a Pokedex. Carol put her book back in a backpack and put on a fierce look that I had never seen on her face. Chloe looked at me and smiled. I tried to smile back, but the situation was too grim to get a good one out. All I could do was nod and look back down to my Pokedex, where I was checking Pokemon.  
  
I had taken all of them out of the computer. Each one was in good shape to battle. Good. It was time.  
  
* * *  
  
We walked outside, Steve and 'Sac leading on their wheels. I walked in front of a wedge behind them. "They might be watching," said Maya.  
  
"You're right," I said. "Goliath?"  
  
He had the loudest voice, so he called out, "Everybody, Pokemon out!" Everyone complied and tossed out Pokeballs. We soon had a large group of any Pokemon imaginable.  
  
"Snowpea!" something cried.  
  
"What's that?" asked Bob.  
  
A small green figure walked out of an alley onto the sidewalk in front of us.  
  
"Snowpea!" it cried again.  
  
I pulled out my Pokedex. "Snowpea, Type 1: Grass. Other data not found," it said in a very monotonous voice.  
  
"Whatever it is, I'm gonna catch it!" I pulled out a Pokeball.  
  
The little thing looked like a little baby in a pea-pod Halloween costume. It had what looked like a green mask on its face. I threw the Pokeball and it was caught. Later I would send it to Oak for him to examine it, after we rescued him.  
  
A few minutes later, we reached the supposedly abandoned warehouse. "Steve, how did you get in before?" asked Isaac.  
  
"Through here." He kicked his foot down on one side of a manhole cover and it flipped up into his hands. I was reminded of our journeys through all those tunnels in Johto. It was cramped inside, so we recalled our Pokemon.  
  
"This doesn't look like a sewer." said Philip, examining the floors and walls. "Wouldn't it be a bit slimier?"  
  
"Let's give it up for Captain Obvious!" I clapped, but there were only a few chuckles. "Ooh, tough crowd."  
  
We didn't have to go far before Steve pointed up to another cover. Goliath reached up and punched it upward. We climbed out and looked around.  
  
There wasn't much to look at. A few empty boxes sat in the nearest corner, but we were only in a small room off down a hallway. I didn't think we should just charge out around the corner, maybe into a bunch of gene- Pokemon attackers.  
  
"Maybe we should send somebody to look." began Natalie.  
  
"I'll go," cut in Chloe.  
  
"Are you sure?" I asked.  
  
"Yeah, I can handle myself." She walked off around the corner. After a few seconds, she screamed and ran back around.  
  
"They're coming!" she yelled. "Run!"  
  
We didn't have time to get to the manhole if they were that close. All we could do was--  
  
Chloe stopped and pulled a switch to her left. A cage fell from a rope on the ceiling and trapped us underneath it.  
  
"Chloe, what the." asked Maya.  
  
"She trapped us in here! That little." Flame Creamfire opened her mouth to fry Chloe, but Maya stopped her. We'd be caught in the fire.  
  
"Let us out!" said Goliath, trying to bend the bars apart.  
  
"There's no use," said a thick Mexican accent. I'd heard that voice before. In the classroom, one of the students. I heard the voice echo in my head as I tried to place it with the student from the roster. Cos, Martin de!  
  
"Who are you?" demanded Courtney.  
  
"Why, I'm General Cos!" A figure stepped from the shadows. He wore the uniform of a high-ranking Mexican army officer. A bronze statuette hung from his belt. It was in the shape of a. weasel?  
  
"Hahaha! Thank you, Chloe, for capturing my foes."  
  
"Chloe, you." said Bob.  
  
"Silence, kleptomaniacal one!" yelled the General.  
  
The cage was suddenly lifted up into the air. The rope was gone, there was no way that we were being lifted up, unless.  
  
"Sabrina, you traitor!" I said.  
  
"I'm flattered," said a cold feminine voice. Sabrina, mistress of telekinesis, stepped from behind Cos. "But I wasn't expecting such friendliness from a captive 'hero'!"  
  
"Shut it, witch!" said Goliath.  
  
"Don't talk to her that way!" said Chloe. She had stepped in line on Cos' left.  
  
"Cos, what is the meaning of this?" I asked.  
  
"Don't you see? I control Team Rocket!"  
  
"Giovanni's replacement?"  
  
"No, silly boy! I have always controlled it. Giovanni was but another puppet himself! Sabrina was third-in-command. Of course, we had a bit of trouble with you, young one, but after you got rid of Giovanni, our contract was ended."  
  
"What contract?" asked Steve.  
  
"We had a deal from the beginning. He would take orders from me, and get to make the unimportant decisions. With a big decision like Operation: Dark Cloud, he had to come to me for advice."  
  
I noticed that other kids had gathered, each in a jumpsuit like always. Chloe pulled off her shirt to reveal one as well. "And are all these kids brainwashed like Jessica was?"  
  
"Ah, Jessica. She was one of our best agents during the short time she was with us. Yes, most of these are brainwashed. All but Chloe and your other 'friends' here." He gestured towards a group of familiar faces: Ryan, Ross, Paul, and Corey.  
  
"I knew you hadn't come back to our side!" yelled Philip. "You were spies all along!"  
  
"Sure," said Ross.  
  
"Anything to get paid," said Ryan.  
  
"And we get benefits, too!" said Corey. "Like dental, and."  
  
"Quiet, fool!" yelled Cos. "Back to what I was saying. Yes, these are mindless drones. Anything else you would like to know?"  
  
I just glared.  
  
"Good, because I wouldn't have answered. Stephanie!" A girl came up behind him. She looked about fifteen, sixteen. "Take them to their holding cell!"  
  
Sabrina let us down from her mind grip and opened the lock. I tried to run, but Sabrina had a psychic rope tied about our ankles. We were all tied together with no way out.  
  
Stephanie prodded me in the back with another of the bronzed weasels and I moved forward. It wasn't sharp, but if it was hurled it could do some damage.  
  
She led us to a meat locker in the back. She shut it and Sabrina must have sealed it because even Goliath couldn't break down the door.  
  
"So what now?" asked Carol.  
  
"I don't know." I said. "I can't think of any plan."  
  
"Should I take their Pokemon away, ma'am?" asked Stephanie out in the hall.  
  
"No, nothing they have is strong enough to get through that wall."  
  
Maybe that was our edge.  
  
"Pinky, go!" Out came the sparkling pink Crobat. "Use Supersonic to break open the door!"  
  
It shot out a barely audible scream. I hoped it would break down the door, but instead it just bounced off and ricocheted over the walls. It echoed in our ears as it hit us. We all fell to the ground, stunned by the sound.  
  
"P-pinky, ret-. return," I gasped.  
  
"Jim, you idiot," laughed Hick Girl.  
  
"I know."  
  
"Any more bright ideas?" asked Sabrina from outside. "I told you, nothing can get through these doors."  
  
"Fine, fine. Just tell me, what are you planning on doing with us?"  
  
"Well, right now, we're sending out letters to all of your parents asking for a little bit of ransom money. Heh heh heh."  
  
"Don't you just want my gene-Pokemon?"  
  
"Well, yes, but as soon as we get the money, we'll kill you, then take them anyway."  
  
"That's low, Sabrina, very low."  
  
"I know. Stephanie, bring them their gruel!"  
  
The door opened to let the brainwashed teenage girl through. She carried a stack of bowls. Under one arm she carried a large pot. Using a ladle, she scooped some out and poured it for us.  
  
"Steph, why are you here?" I asked her.  
  
"I don't know. I can't remember anything before waking up here about a year ago. All they can tell me is that I'll be here until they have no use for me. Then they'll either terminate me or just restore my memory and return me to civilization," she replied.  
  
"Help us out."  
  
"I can't. I'd love to, but they might catch me."  
  
"Just at least tell me where Oak and Erika are."  
  
"I don't have enough clearance to know that."  
  
"Can you find out?"  
  
"Maybe. I'll try, then I'll get back to you tonight."  
  
"Thanks." I returned to my sludge that we were supposed to eat. "How do we eat this?"  
  
"You don't. Just leave it alone. It might smell bad after a while, but it doesn't taste any better." She walked out the door and shut it behind her.  
  
Goliath looked at it, then poked it with his finger. It had a funny film on top of it and was looked inedible.  
  
It apparently was edible, though, because Bob gulped it down and then yoinked ours, too. "Mmm, mmm, good!"  
  
Carol gave him a look of pure disgust.  
  
My watch beeped twice. It was nine o'clock.  
  
"It's gonna be a long night," I said, then stretched out and lay on the cold, hard floor.  
  
"Probably," said Isaac. "D'you think any of us will be able to sleep?"  
  
"Well, only if "us" doesn't include her," said Philip. He leaned his head towards Natalie, who was asleep to his right. He put his arm around her and closed his eyes.  
  
"Well, at least they left us all in the same cell," said Steve.  
  
"Yeah, we're not alone," said Courtney.  
  
"True, true. We're all together," said Goliath. He was the only one still standing. He crossed his arms and leaned on the wall, soon snoring.  
  
When my watch beeped midnight, I was still asleep. I couldn't sleep. It was just how hopeless this all seemed. We were stuck in an icy metal room with no way out, unless.  
  
Bang.  
  
I bolted straight up. "What the."  
  
"Jim! You awake?" asked Stephanie from outside.  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"I got the Prof and Erika."  
  
"Oak?"  
  
"I'm all right, Jim, but we need to get you out," said the old man.  
  
"All right. Can you get us out?"  
  
"I think so," said Steph. "Sabrina's asleep, so I don't think her mental lock is as strong. Can you try to break through from that side?"  
  
"Goliath, wake up!"  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"We need to get through this door."  
  
"Okay."  
  
"Phi-Lip-Ooh!"  
  
Philip was standing up and taller again. Together, they pried the door open.  
  
I woke everyone up as quietly as possible and then we all sneaked out. The only problem before we reached the door was a gene-Pokemon guard, which was taken out by Hick's whip.  
  
But, as we were walking out the door, a bronze spear struck the wall beside my head. "You're not leaving so soon, are you?"  
  
"Sure we are!" I drew a Pokeball from my belt. I just hoped it was the right one. "Go!"  
  
"Snowpea!"  
  
Argh.  
  
"Snowpea, use. something."  
  
"Come on, I can take anything you can throw at me!" yelled Cos, pulling out another weasel.  
  
Out of nowhere, a metal boot smacked him in the face. "Hey, who threw that?"  
  
Then, Snowpea sucked in its chest and charged at the Hispanic dude.  
  
"Snowpea!" It latched onto his leg and little hearts popped out all over.  
  
"No, not the hug, no, no. Oh, Snowpea, you are so cute, man!" Cos said, then he hugged the little thing back.  
  
I blinked, and glanced at Maya. She gave me a skeptical look. I countered with a shrug.  
  
"Go, just go," said the general.  
  
"You want us to go?" asked Goliath.  
  
"For the love of evel, just GO!"  
  
"What's 'evel'?"  
  
"Don't ask."  
  
We all went out, feeling a little more confused than when we went in.  
  
AN: So, how was that? Snowpea and the entire attacking sequence were adapted from the character in iMucha Lucha! (I used a little i as an upside-down ! because it's Spanish. Anyway, Maya still belongs to moonymonster, and General Cos partly belongs to gideonguy. It's kind of an inside joke, so don't ask about the Cos thing.  
  
Next: The beginning of the new story line: the big trip to. somewhere that won't be revealed until next chapter!  
  
Until then, may you be safe from the evels of General Cos! 


	10. Revenge of the JellyBean Soul Suckers!

A/N: In this chapter, I introduce some new characters and give you a look at the inner souls of jelly beans!  
  
Chapter 10  
  
Revenge of the Jelly Bean Soul Suckers!  
  
I knew it wasn't over. I knew that we'd probably see Cos and Sabrina again. I knew that I would also probably see that strange. thing. that we saw at the beach. But for now, all we had to worry about was.  
  
"ROAD TRIP!!!" yelled somebody that looked pretty familiar.  
  
"Ty?" I asked. It was the leader of the Dojo in Saffron! "What're you doin' in White?"  
  
"Same as me," said Bryan from behind him.  
  
"Goo!" said Philip.  
  
"We're gonna be the counselors in the cabins on the big trip in a week," said Ty.  
  
"Really?" asked Natalie.  
  
"Us, too!" said Stephanie.  
  
It was the Monday after the raid on the Rockets. That had been two days ago, on Saturday. During lunch, one of the teachers, Mrs. White, stood up and explained the rules and schedules. After that, she handed out packets. Then she had introduced the counselors, five of which were friends of ours: the police chief Bryan, Dojo Gym Leader Ty, Philip, his girlfriend Natalie, and newly-freed Stephanie.  
  
"Bryan will be in a tent group with Jim Hawkwind, 'Goliath' Davidson, Isaac Keck, Bob Kidd, and Steve Vaughan. Stephanie will be with Courtney Morrison, Carol Jones, Kerry Masters, and Maya Manson. Philip will be with Stewart Ware." She went off into people I didn't know.  
  
"This is gonna be awesome!" whispered Kerry from behind me.  
  
"GOO!" I yelled, turning. "I thought you got eaten by the ant."  
  
"What ant?" she asked.  
  
I looked at Goliath. He shrugged.  
  
Okay.  
  
Bryan leaned over to me. "I asked to be put in your cabin because we're afraid that Team Rocket might be after you. I'm supposed to protect you throughout this trip."  
  
"Cool, but I think I'll be fine," I whispered.  
  
"Just a precaution."  
  
* * *  
  
All through the next week, gossip was buzzing around about what surprises were in store and also about my weekend adventure.  
  
"Jim, did you really take on an army of gene-Pokemon single-handedly?" asked some random kid.  
  
"Uh. no?"  
  
"Hey, Jim, did you hear that we're going to Seafoam Islands on the trip?" asked Hick Girl.  
  
"No, who said that?"  
  
"Kerry told me. What have you heard?"  
  
"Aw, Bryan already told me."  
  
"WHAT?!?"  
  
"I'm not supposed to tell."  
  
"PLEEEEEEEEASE?!?"  
  
"Nope."  
  
Hick Girl kept bugging me all through the week, but it didn't work. I refused to tell her where Bryan had said we were going:  
  
A camping trip in the Ruins of Alph.  
  
It was hard, trying to keep the information a secret from everybody. Courtney told everyone else that I knew, so they all kept asking me. It was pretty annoying.  
  
The trip was supposed to be "educational". Yeah, right. As long as we were away from school, it was time to goof off.  
  
They held off telling everybody else till the day we left. They told us to pack warmly, since it got cool at night. That's all we knew until the day we left.  
  
Everybody was on the bus, so several teachers stood up in the front few rows. Before they could even begin, Isaac yelled out, "Come on, tell us where we're going!"  
  
Mr. Burton, the Rock/Geology teacher, said, "Okay, okay, you win. We're going to."  
  
"The Ruins of Alph!" I interrupted.  
  
A roar went up through the bus.  
  
"Calm down, everyone," said Burton, but nothing happened. He looked at the SST/History teacher, Coach Sapp, and nodded.  
  
Coach stood up and everyone immediately went silent, as if they were dead. We knew that if we weren't quiet, we'd go on "full silence" for the rest of the trip.  
  
"Thank you, Coach," said Burton. "Now, Mr. Hawkwind was correct. We are going to the Ruins. But we need to be careful. An archaeological dig is being performed near the campsite, and they prefer not to be disturbed."  
  
"Also, I have sensed some Psychic disturbances in the area. I can't tell what they are until we get closer, but I think it might be dangerous," said Professor Destiny, the Psychic teacher.  
  
"So, if required, we are prepared to leave at once," said Sapp.  
  
"If we have to, we'll go to Olivine Beach for a day, then return," said Rahne, the Water student teacher.  
  
"But that's only a slim chance, so let's go!" said Burton, pointing to the Ground teacher, Mr. Soil, who was driving. He started the bus, and in seconds we were out on the highway, headed for one of the biggest adventures of my life!  
  
* * *  
  
I was half-asleep, listening to some CD, when something tapped my shoulder. "What the." I sat straight up and looked around. Goliath, next to me, was reading a book. "Did you tap me?" I asked.  
  
"No." he said.  
  
"I did," said someone. A face popped in between the crack between my seat and Goliath's.  
  
"You're Jim, right?" he asked.  
  
"Yeah. And you are.?"  
  
"Name's Stewart. I'm new. Just started yesterday, actually." He looked fairly tall, kinda lanky, with straight brown hair.  
  
"What's up?"  
  
"I just wanted to know why you're so famous and everything."  
  
"Well, remember when Team Rocket took over Johto last year?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"I stopped them. Then, just a couple weeks ago, I took them on again and saved Professor Oak and Erika."  
  
"Wow. You're that Jim? I had no idea." He held out his hand. "Pleased to meet you."  
  
"Same here." I took it and shook.  
  
It had been about three hours, so I let my CD player have a little rest. I was looking out the window at the scenery, when something tiny and pink hit me on the top of the head. It bounced off and landed in the palm of my hand. "What is this?"  
  
It looked like a cylinder cut from the center of a.  
  
"Jelly bean?" asked Goliath.  
  
Isaac and Steve, sitting across the aisle from us, were laughing. The latter had a bag of pink, maroon, and lime green jelly beans. Isaac tossed me one. It had a hole cut through the middle.  
  
"Man, Isaac, what're you doing? It's missing, like, its soul!" said Maya in front of us.  
  
"Hmmm, jelly bean soul-suckers." I said.  
  
Another one hit me in the arm. "Steve!"  
  
Goliath grabbed it and ate it. He grinned and said, "Mm, Dr. Pepper!" I gave him my crazy "what-was-that" look.  
  
I caught the next one and tasted it. "Strawberry cheesecake!"  
  
Soon, we had a volley of jelly bean "souls" flying through the air. We were trying to catch them in our mouths. Flame Creamfire, who occupied the seat next to Maya, kept shooting her signature vanilla ice cream colored flames at some, charring them right before we ate them, causing us to spit them out or just swallow the burnt candy.  
  
"Hawkwind!" yelled a strong voice from the front of the bus.  
  
I stopped trying to catch a burned one, letting it hit me on the forehead, leaving a blackish mark. Sapp had called me down.  
  
"What's goin' on back there?" he roared.  
  
"N-nothing, sir," I said.  
  
"It better be nothin'. I'll have nothing else thrown in this bus, hear me?"  
  
The entire bus nodded in unison.  
  
Sapp returned to his seat and reopened his Coon Hunters Monthly magazine.  
  
I turned to the others. I must have had a weird look on my face, because everyone burst out laughing.  
  
"Maybe we should leave the bean souls alone for a little bit," I said, finally catching my breath.  
  
I pulled out another CD and my drawing pad. I placed the disk inside my player and started it. "I am a rock, it's all I do," began the song.*  
  
I put the eraser of my pencil in my mouth and tried to decide what to draw. For some reason, Unown popped into my head. I started to draw the first one, which looked like an A.  
  
Back when Gold was traveling, he opened the Ruins, bringing in a flood of Unown. He helped scientists develop the Unowndex, a special Pokedex that identified all twenty-six types.  
  
Anyway, now that I've given you a run-down of Unown.  
  
When I came back to reality, I had drawn almost all of them in great detail. But, I had left out the I. I don't know why, but I did. I drew it in the small space between H and J.  
  
I looked at my work and was pleased. My watch beeped that we had been on the road for almost six hours. I looked out the window and saw that we were in a town. Looked like Goldenrod.  
  
"All right everyone, eat and meet back here in thirty minutes!" yelled Coach. We all piled out, legs cramped and stomachs rumbling.  
  
AN: *If you can tell me what song that is, I'll personally give you a cookie. Anyway.  
  
How'd you like it? It didn't take me long to write, but yeah.  
  
Maya and Flame still belong to moonymonster (read the story Flame Creamfire, it's good). 


	11. Settling In

Chapter 11  
  
Settling In  
  
After five more hours stuck in the bus with almost no leg room, some crazy movie being played incessantly extremely loudly, and (after switching seats with a few other people) Steve's insane punk rock blaring from his headphones into my ears, I had gotten no sleep whatsoever, and we were pulling into the clearing where we would set up our tents.  
  
It wasn't dark now, but everyone sluggishly filed off the bus. No one else had gotten any sleep. I tripped over Hick Girl ("I didn't see you, you're too short.") and then landed on my pillow. "Hmm. nice and soft," I said and promptly fell asleep.  
  
Poke.  
  
"What?"  
  
Hick Girl poked me again. "Get up; we're trying to set up our tents!"  
  
"Oh." I stood up and realized that the bus had moved away and I was right in the middle of the girls' spot.  
  
I found Bryan and the others and set up my own tent. Cream flames were already burning in the center, courtesy of our own funny-colored Charmander.  
  
"All right guys. They've told me that eleven o'clock is bedtime, but you know, there's nothing scheduled in the morning until around ten, so I'll let you guys stay up as long as you want," said our blond counselor.  
  
We all laughed, then I fell over and pretended to sleep. "Jim?" said Isaac. He kicked me in the side. I laughed and rolled over.  
  
"I'm alive, I'm alive."  
  
"Hey, guys, wanna go for a walk through the woods?" asked Goliath, always ready for any strenuous activity.  
  
We looked at Bryan, who said, "Sure, go on."  
  
"Sweet!" rang out the cry.  
  
We then went and grabbed the girls and Stewart, who was in Philip's group with people I didn't know. Big G led us through the woods at a steady, though rather fast, pace. Finally, we reached the archaeological dig.  
  
"Uh, Goliath? I think we took a wrong turn back at that tree." said Flame. "We're not supposed to be here."  
  
"I figured we should come here and check it out. I mean." he began.  
  
"Hey! Look at that symbol!" said Carol, pointing to an eye engraved on a nearby pillar. "It looks like the one on this book!" She pulled the large book I had seen her with at the Trainer out of her back pocket.  
  
"Where'd that book come from?" asked Maya.  
  
"Same place as that blonde, and that sword." said Bob.  
  
Everybody stared at him for a minute, then looked back at the book.  
  
"Anyway, I can't read this book. It's written in a dead language, none that is in any ancient record ever found. I've been trying to translate it, but I have nothing," said Carol, showing us the pages inside.  
  
"Plus, there are two locks on the front. One had a key that was taped to the back of the book. The other, I have no idea."  
  
"Where'd you find the book, anyway?" I asked.  
  
"It was in the library, but it wasn't marked with anything. I asked the guy behind the counter, who said that he'd never seen it before."  
  
"So it just appeared, and you can't read it."  
  
"Hey, you kids! What're you doing here?" said a black guy in a dust- covered outfit.  
  
"Sorry, we accidentally wandered here," said Goliath. "We're from that school that's camping on the other side of the forest."  
  
"Okay. You'd better leave. My superiors aren't as forgiving, and. WHAT THE? Where did you get that book?!?" His eyes widened as he noticed it.  
  
"I found it at the library." Carol said slowly.  
  
He grabbed it and looked through it. "Hey, Professor Redwood!"  
  
Maya and Flame jumped. "Did you say Redwood?" asked Maya.  
  
"Yeah, he's in charge of this whole thing!"  
  
A shady-looking guy in a lab coat ran up to us. When he saw Flame, he jumped back in surprise, the same way they had. "That. that Charmander! Maya! What a. pleasant. surprise."  
  
"I thought you were in prison!" yelled Maya.  
  
"I got out. Now, I've turned from my con-man ways and devoted my mind to true science!"  
  
"Sure."  
  
"Look, Professor! Here's the journal!" said the other guy, shoving the book into Redwood's face.  
  
"The journal? Where did you find this?"  
  
"This girl found it at the library, she says."  
  
"Really? So that's where that young girl left it."  
  
"What girl?" I asked.  
  
"My daughter," said the first man. "My name is Mr. Snarley. My daughter, Marvette, is here somewhere."  
  
He called her, and a girl about our age ran up. "Yeah, dad?" She had dark black hair, a large lock of which was flipped in front of her right eye.  
  
"We found the journal you lost," he said, almost scolding her.  
  
"Where was it?" she asked sheepishly.  
  
"At the library, where you were researching languages."  
  
"I found it," said Carol. "I was doing the same thing."  
  
"Didn't find anything either, huh?"  
  
"No. I think it's a dead language."  
  
"We already asked our linguist. He had no idea," said Redwood.  
  
"So it might be an unknown language that we've just never seen before," said Snarley. "I keep telling you that!"  
  
"But wouldn't it be somewhere else in the Ruins?"  
  
"Just because we found the journal here doesn't mean it has anything to do with the Unown! It could have been left by somebody here ages ago who had written it a long time before!"  
  
"Who is in charge of this expedition?"  
  
"I sure hope it's not you. Stubborn little." Snarley's voice got quiet as he mumbled something I can't allow myself to type.  
  
"Maybe we should leave," said Flame.  
  
"ACK! That lizard talked!" screamed Redwood.  
  
"I've always been able to talk, genius! Since before you locked me up with those other two Pokemon!"  
  
"Yeah, we should leave," I said. Maya grabbed Flame before she attacked the scientist and we backed off.  
  
* * *  
  
We got back at around nine. Everybody else was relaxing from the annoying bus trip.  
  
"We should look for that other key later," I whispered to Carol. She nodded. I passed it along to the guys, she the girls.  
  
We would sneak out that night and find that other key.  
  
As long as we didn't get caught.  
  
AN: Can I foreshadow, or can I foreshadow? Also look for my Fantasy fic, currently in the makings! Maya, Flame, and Prof. Redwood all belong to moonymonster (still). Yeah, that's about it. 


	12. Busted!

AN: If you haven't noticed, I've gotten a running thing in here: anytime possible, I'll put in a song-guessing contest. So far, I have only given away one cookie; that's to Hick Girl herself. That's about it. Somebody guess it and the one from chapter 8 (revised)!  
  
Chapter 12  
  
Busted!  
  
"Come on!"  
  
Bob had tripped over a tree root and fallen. I grabbed his arm and told him to keep going. The moon was almost full, but it was still pretty dark.  
  
We had everybody but Maya, because she refused to wake up. We had just left her there.  
  
Finally, we reached the Ruins where the archaeologists had been. They had gone back to their own campsite for the night, so nobody was there.  
  
Or so we thought.  
  
I was searching around near where Marvette's father had said they had found the book, when I heard a scream.  
  
"Hick Girl!"  
  
I raced towards the sound. When I got there, it was just that Steve had snuck up behind her and scared her. She had turned and lassoed him and was actually laughing now, so I went back to investigating. I found a rock that probably had once been part of a wall or something and had not only our strange symbol, but a picture of an Unown.  
  
Not just any Unown: an I.  
  
Why did that I keep popping up? I left it out in my drawings. Maybe there was a connection.  
  
Nah.  
  
* * *  
  
We finally gave up and went back to camp. I had kept the rock, pocketing it as my watch beeped two o'clock and as I called the others that it was time to head back.  
  
We got back to find three unhappy teens: Bryan, Philip, and Stephanie. Oh, and Maya was there with them, half-asleep and in her pajamas.  
  
"Uh oh." said Steve quietly.  
  
"Where have y'all been?" asked Steph.  
  
"We were worried sick!" said Phil, looking at Stewart.  
  
"You could have been kidnapped, for all we knew!" said Bryan. "And that is a possibility, with your rep, Jim."  
  
"I'm sorry, but we had to check out the Ruins!" I said.  
  
"You aren't supposed to be over there anyway!" said Philip.  
  
"Okay, okay. You got us. Now what?" asked Steve.  
  
"Now, you sit out tomorrow's activities," said Bryan.  
  
"But tomorrow's the hike!" protested Goliath.  
  
"We haven't hiked enough today?" asked Courtney, who wasn't the most athletic of the group.  
  
"I don't care," said Bryan. "You're staying here."  
  
Carol pulled out her schedule as the counselors walked off. "It's okay anyway, because they were going to the Ruins at the end of the hike. We've already been there."  
  
I almost laughed, but I didn't. I had become the leader of this group, but I had gotten us into trouble. I wasn't going to let that happen again.  
  
* * *  
  
I woke late the next morning. Since we weren't going, nobody had bothered to wake us up early for the hike. I sat up and stretched. Hearing laughing outside, I crawled out of my tent and found everybody sitting around talking. Philip had been left to watch us.  
  
I pulled on some clothes and joined them.  
  
"And then, from nowhere, a blue minivan charges by and smacks into Jessica, knocking her fifty feet away and into a gutter!" said Phil. He apparently was taking advantage of this story.  
  
Almost offended by the mockery they were making of Jess' death, I interrupted. "Well, it wasn't exactly fifty feet, for one. And two, no, wait, that's it."  
  
They laughed. "Have y'all noticed that the blue minivan pops out of nowhere at the most random times?" asked Hick Girl.  
  
"See? You DO use a hick accent when you talk! I have a reason to call you Hick Girl, and I have proof, so no arguing," I said smugly.  
  
Suddenly, there was a rumbling. Busting through the trees came a blue minivan with a blonde driver and a passenger that looked like.  
  
"Rob?"  
  
That's right. My surfer buddy was trapped in a car with his insane sister who should be stripped of her license!  
  
"Follow that blonde!"  
  
"Where'd that blonde come from?"  
  
"WASN'T I JUST SAYING THIS?!?"  
  
We chased after the van until it got out of sight.  
  
"Guys, I think we're a little bit away from the site," said Philip, pointing backwards.  
  
We looked, and noticed that we were up on a tall hill, overlooking the forest. The clearing that was our campsite was about a mile away.  
  
"How did we get that far?" I asked.  
  
"Wait, where's Courtney?" asked Carol.  
  
There was no way that she could have run a mile with us.  
  
* * *  
  
"Courtney!"  
  
"Hick Girl!"  
  
"Courtney!"  
  
We searched for fifteen minutes, then found her, flat on the ground, a large bump on her forehead. There were no trees near that she could have hit and fallen over and landed in the position she was in.  
  
"Do you think she was attacked?" asked Isaac (always the optimistic one).  
  
"I don't know, but we've gotta get back; the others will be back by now!" said Philip.  
  
Goliath picked her up and still was able to run faster than any of us. We made it back in the middle of lunch. We found Mr. Burton and told him what happened.  
  
"You expect me to believe that this student was attacked by somebody in the woods?" he asked harshly.  
  
"Kinda," said Phil. "I didn't say we were sure, but she couldn't have landed where she was by hitting a tree!"  
  
Burton just laughed in our face, then he stood up on a chair to take roll.  
  
When he got to Maya, she didn't answer. She hadn't been with us to get in trouble, so she had gone on to the hike. Apparently she hadn't come back with them.  
  
Suddenly my cell phone rang. "Hello?"  
  
"Jim, it's Maya," she gasped. "Help me! I was with the group till I saw a strange door-looking wall thing. I broke off from the others and tried to open it. When I couldn't, some of my Pokemon opened it a little." I could hear a familiar chattering sound in the background.  
  
"A huge swarm of Unown flew out of the opening and attacked me. Now, Flame and everything else is out cold, and I'm surrounded. I threw down a Smoke Ball to get time to call, but it's clearing away. No! Stay back! Get away!" Her voice got fainter, and there was a cracking noise, then static.  
  
"She's in trouble," I said quietly to Philip. "Stay here and make sure no one follows me. I'm going to get her."  
  
He started to stop me, but then realized that I knew what I was doing. I was the only one there that knew how to deal with rogue Pokemon.  
  
I took off toward the Ruins, feeling my pockets to make sure all my 'Mon were there. 


	13. Rescue

Chapter 13  
  
  
  
  
  
Rescue  
  
AN: Between some of the paragraphs are the lyrics from "Comin' to the Rescue" by Youngstown from the Pokemon the Movie 2000 soundtrack (yeah, I know it's Youngstown, but it's a good song. I also know that the CD's pretty lame, but I've had it since the second movie came out two years ago).  
  
_When you're tumblin' down and your spirits fall..._  
  
I ran through the forest, hoping that I was going the right direction toward the dig site. For some reason, I heard music.  
  
_Help's on the way, we hear your call._  
  
My CD player in my backpack had turned on. I almost turned it off, but instead stuck the tiny 'phones into my ears and listened as I ran.  
  
_On a mission, we're united as one..._  
  
I heard a scream far to my left, so I turned and smacked into a tree. Rubbing my bruised nose, I went around it. "Maya! Can you hear me?"  
  
_Friends forever, yeah, here we come._  
  
I was answered with a cry of "help" and I knew she could. "I'm coming, don't worry!"  
  
_In no time, we'll be at your side._  
  
Suddenly, the walls of trees on both sides opened up into the Ruins. I tripped over a piece of rubble and my CD player smashed to the stone. The music, however, still rang in my head.  
  
_We're a team on a roller coaster ride._  
  
"Jim, get up!" cried Maya.  
  
I jumped up to see the Unown gathered in a semicircle around her.  
  
They were glowing, as if charging for.  
  
"Hey! Leave her alone!"  
  
_Each one of us knows just what to do._  
  
Every individual being in the swarm turned, and I saw every single little eye focus on me. They shone violet, getting ready for a large Psychic blast. I closed my eyes and braced myself for the pain. It might've even killed me, if it weren't for.  
  
WHIP!  
  
_Never gonna stop searchin' for you._  
  
A rope had come out of nowhere, knocking out several of the frail yet powerful Pokemon. The rest of the cloud dissipated I turned around to see where "nowhere" actually was, and saw.  
  
"Guys?"  
  
The entire gang was there, including Hick Girl, who held the rope. "Hick Girl, you should have stayed behind," I said. "That bump was bad.  
  
"Come to think of it, you ALL should have stayed. Philip."  
  
He stepped from the back of the group, holding Natalie's hand. "I couldn't let you die. You would've, too, if we hadn't showed up."  
  
"But. aw, you're right. Still, you should have stayed. These things are dangerous. You don't know how to deal with Pokemon like this. I do."  
  
_Searchin' for you, we're gonna set you free._  
  
"What is that?" asked Isaac. He pointed behind me.  
  
I turned back to see what he was talking about, but it was gone, along with Maya!  
  
"What the.? Argh, what happened?"  
  
"Somethin' swooped out of the sky and grabbed her," said Isaac. "It looked almost like a human, but with funny-colored skin."  
  
"Oh, no."  
  
_Comin' to the rescue, get there in a hurry._  
  
Memories flooded into my mind. I saw the strange figure controlling the Unown cloud over the ocean. Rob and I almost drowned under the giant wave.  
  
"Okay, this guy is bad news," I said. "You are not coming with me. You are all going back to the campsite and warning the teachers. I have a feeling this is going to go badly with them, but even worse with this thing."  
  
_Rescue, don't you worry._  
  
"Go back. I don't want anyone else hurt. I think this is the thing that hurt Courtney. It also attacked me a few months ago. If you can, call either Jack, Rob, or May. They can help. Also get Kendra and everyone else that was hiding underground when the Rockets took over. They can help if I don't stop this thing."  
  
_Rescue, this adventure's heatin' up._  
  
They agreed not to come, and I ran off.  
  
* * *  
  
"Maya!"  
  
No answer.  
  
"Crud! Where did they go?!" I yelled to no one in particular.  
  
_I'll rescue you, and if I do you gotta rescue me._  
  
I leaned up against a tree and thought. Aha! I could cover more ground if.  
  
"Go!"  
  
All my Pokemon flew out of their Balls. "Spread out. If you find anything, send up an attack."  
  
They all went in different directions, except for Pinky, who I jumped on to get a better view.  
  
_So if you're lost, one thing is true._  
  
"Maya!"  
  
Crobat kept sending out radar waves. If we found anything, we would go down and look. After repeating that five times, we had found nothing. But, I wasn't about to give up.  
  
_Never gonna stop lookin' for you._  
  
I wasn't going to let evil take somebody close to me away again. Maya wasn't going the same way as Jessica.  
  
Suddenly, a pale pink jet of fire shot up. It was similar to Flame's but there was something different. It was more. reddish.  
  
"Flame?"  
  
I had to check it out.  
  
I landed right next to the Charmander, who was leaning up against a tree, weak and gasping. "Jim? Where have you been? I've been here sending up flames for half an hour! They're getting weaker and weaker. Maya dropped me while something was carrying her." She was too tired to be sarcastic.  
  
"Sorry, I wasn't looking for you. What happened before I showed up?"  
  
_You're not alone, so have no doubt._  
  
"Well, she sent all of us out. One by one, we fell to the power of those tiny Pokemon. I was the last one left, but they got me. Then she threw down the Smoke Ball and called you. After that, I only remember being dropped."  
  
"Which way did Maya go?"  
  
"I think they went that way." She pointed with a tiny claw the direction I had already been flying.  
  
"Okay, head back to camp and tell the others that I think I've found her. Tell them to get ready, because if I do save her, it'll be mad." I pointed in the opposite direction.  
  
I once again took to the air and followed the directions.  
  
_We'll put our heads together, gonna figure it out._  
  
I flew over a clearing. Even there no wind blew, the grass rustled. We swooped low and circled. The long weeds moved again.  
  
I leapt off Crobat and landed right on top of a mass of Unown, who swarmed up, along with their apparent leader, who held Maya in its scaled arms.  
  
Scales? I hadn't noticed.  
  
But suddenly I was surrounded again. The shade covered me, but then glowed purple. I once again felt Death brush past me, but this time, I jumped up as they shot. They all hit each other, shrinking the cloud considerably.  
  
I ran through the rest and hurled myself at Maya's captor. "You're not getting away this time!" I pinned it to the ground. The girl was thrown to the side.  
  
"What are you?" I screamed.  
  
The only reply was a roar that chilled my bones. Then its eyes turned that purplish hue that was always associated with Psychic-types. The following blast hurled me six feet in the air. I landed on my butt even farther away, dazed. It rose up and began hovering again.  
  
Maya stood up. "Get a Pokemon!" she shouted.  
  
"All I have is Crobat!"  
  
"Crud! Just throw something at it!"  
  
The projectile I chose was a rock that was knocked back by another mental burst.  
  
_Listen to me, we're gonna set you free._  
  
"I don't think this thing could be IDed by my Pokedex!" I said.  
  
"No, it's evolved beyond anyone's knowledge!" she replied.  
  
"How do we stop it?"  
  
"RUN!"  
  
I got up and took her advice.  
  
_Comin' to the rescue, get there in a hurry._  
  
We ran side by side until something huge blocked our path: a wild Graveler!  
  
"Split!" I yelled. I ran to the left, she to the right.  
  
BAM!  
  
I heard the crunch as the thing rammed into the Rock. "Oh, that hurt," I said, stopping to watch the fight.  
  
"GRAVELER!" roared the Pokemon that had just saved our lives. It grabbed the monster and threw it to the ground, then Body-Slammed it.  
  
"It might come after us when it's done," said Maya.  
  
"Oh, yeah. Keep running."  
  
We took off again, but then Pinky, who I had just left back in the field, flew under us and picked us up.  
  
"You okay?" I asked Maya.  
  
"Yeah." Her hair was in front of right eye, as Marvette's had been. I reached to brush it aside, but she turned away.  
  
_Rescue, don't you worry._  
  
We flew until we reached the camp, where everyone was waiting, ready for battle.  
  
"I don't think we have to worry about it for a while," I said.  
  
_Rescue, this adventure's heatin' up._  
  
Mr. Burton stood up and cleared his throat. That didn't stop the chatter.  
  
"Hey, everybody, SHUT UP!" shouted Kerry, who had always had a big mouth.  
  
"Thank you, Kerry. Now, I need to address this thing that took Maya and attacked Jim. As we said, we are going to leave and go to the beach. The Psychic professor here has detected strange disturbance, even more powerful than previous tremors. We believe that they are from this creature. It is definitely dangerous. ("I could've told you that, I whispered.") We must leave, immediately. Please gather your belongings and load the bus."  
  
AN: That was way too long. It only took me a day to write, but a couple weeks to type up. Sorry. Anyway, this is not over. The "thing" will be back. The Unown will return. The journal will be unlocked. But that won't be for a while. Keep reading! 


	14. Steve: Failure?

AN: Based on true events. The guy that Steve is based on actually went through this. Halfway through, it'll be turned over to Jim because Steve won't be able to really relate to what's going on. This takes place somewhere after the trip. I'd also appreciate some ideas on the next storyline between the "Road Trip" and the uh... next part. Please email me or tell me via review. I need ideas!  
  
Chapter 14  
  
  
  
Steve: Failure?  
  
"What is my dad doing here?" I asked Jim. He walked past me, wearing his grimy electrician's suit. I asked him.  
  
"Your History teacher wants to talk to me," he said.  
  
Oh, no.  
  
History was the one class I was failing. If he was going to talk with the teacher...  
  
"Hey, man, why is your dad here?" asked Goliath.  
  
"I'm screwed," was all I could say.  
  
"What?" asked Jim.  
  
I repeated my wonderfully insightful statement.  
  
"Why?" asked Carol.  
  
"My dad's here. He's talking to Coach Flint." Flint was the History teacher. He was also one of the football coaches.  
  
"What for?" asked Isaac.  
  
"I'm failing History."  
  
"Is that it?" asked Jim.  
  
"Yeah, but..." My voice cracked. "He said that if I fail another class, I'm gonna have to transfer schools."  
  
"Dude, you can't leave!"  
  
"Tell that to my dad."  
  
The five minute bell rang. "I gotta get to Science," said Jim. He went downstairs.  
  
Everyone else went their separate ways. I was left in the hallways as they cleared out. I slowly walked to the closed door of the History classroom, which opened.  
  
"Why didn't you tell me you were failing?" yelled my dad.  
  
"I didn't know till I got my report card at the nine weeks," I said.  
  
"But you had to have known that you had, say, a 58!"  
  
"I didn't!"  
  
"Flint says that you haven't been turning in assignments!"  
  
"I lose them!"  
  
"Don't you lie to me, boy!" He struck me on the side of the face.  
  
"I'm not!"  
  
He hit me again.  
  
I was crying by this time. "I'm... s-s-sorry..." I stuttered. I could barely get the words out.  
  
The tardy bell had already rung by the time my dad let me go to class. I sat down in English.  
  
"Why are you late, Mr. Vaughan?" asked the teacher.  
  
"I was talking to my dad," I said. I tried not to let tears flow again.  
  
"What happened?" asked Isaac next to me, noticing the tear-streaks and the slap marks on my face.  
  
"I have to go to public school."  
  
* * *  
  
"Man, this stinks!" said Jim. "They can't send you away!"  
  
"My parents can't afford to keep me here if I'm not making good grades," I said.  
  
"We'll help! If you ever need help, just ask us! You can keep your grade up in History. Just keep trying," said Maya.  
  
"Yeah," said everyone else.  
  
"Well, if I don't come back on Monday, you know where to find me."  
  
* * *  
  
"Carol, if he doesn't come back..." I said.  
  
"Shut it, Jim!"  
  
"But you need to confess your undying love for him before he leaves!"  
  
"SHUT UP!" she shouted, but she knew I was right.  
  
"If he's not back Monday, I'll call him."  
  
"But then, he'll have to confess his feelings to Diana."  
  
Diana was a year older than we were. It was strange that Steve liked her, but he did. She was nice, I guess, but a little strange. Come to think of it, so was Steve.  
  
"Ha, ha. Very funny."  
  
We were in fifth period History. It was Friday afternoon, right after lunch. Ever since I had found out that Carol liked Steve, I had teased her about it.  
  
"So, what do you think his reaction will be when he finds out?"  
  
"ARGH!" She ignored me for the rest of the period.  
  
I smiled. I knew she was just kidding.  
  
* * *  
  
Monday morning.  
  
The big moment had come.  
  
Steve walked up the stairs like nothing had ever happened. He went straight to his locker and opened it.  
  
"You're alive!" said Maya.  
  
"Yeah, my parents were nice for a change and gave me another chance. I'm gonna work on my History hard. If my grades slip, I'll let you know. Well, now I won't have to hide out at my next door neighbor Devin's house."  
  
AN: That took me... around thirty minutes. Unlike SOME PEOPLE, I can type a chapter quickly. I still need ideas, so send 'em in! Sorry it's so short, but this was kind of just a space-filler. 


	15. Switched: Jim

AN: After some REAL help from "tobymac", I finally got the new plot. Welcome, dear reader, to  
  
Switched!  
  
Secret of the Journal: Book 2  
  
Yeah, the two separate book thing is kinda my style (not to mention my good friend Tolkien's...). Anyway, I know the theme is kinda overused, but this is a good idea... Here goes! (Note: Starts in our favorite Psychic Gym Leader Sabrina's POV. Will switch to Jim's.) Please note that this chapter and a few more in the future could be rated PG for stuff they wouldn't allow in other G-rated stories. Anyway, this chapter gets a PG rating.  
  
Chapter 1  
  
Jim  
  
"Why does he keep ruining our plans, my dear?" asked the Mexican general.  
  
"I don't know, sir," I said.  
  
"How did he get away with freeing all of our prisoners, including himself?" asked Cos.  
  
"I don't know," I repeated.  
  
"How did he get through your mental security system, hmm?"  
  
"That I do know, sir. That traitor, Stephanie, promised to watch over them as I slept. I hadn't had much sleep in the weeks before that, so I figured why not? Anyway, then she let them all out. It wasn't my fault."  
  
"Ah, but it was. You get one more chance to redeem yourself. If we get those gene-Pokemon, you can stay second-in-command. If not..."  
  
He didn't have to finish his sentence. I had to get those Pokemon!  
  
I went to my room and began forming a plan.  
  
* * *  
  
One month later...  
  
The radio that served as my alarm turned on. "...for the torture and the pain? Made the blood from Heaven rain, I brought the hammer down!"  
  
I sat up and yawned. I rubbed my eyes before fully opening them.  
  
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!"  
  
Why was my room pink?  
  
"Mom!!!" My voice must have cracked, because it was a little higher.  
  
The door opened. "What's wrong, sweetie?"  
  
Standing in the doorway was not my mother.  
  
I screamed again.  
  
"Kerry, what's wrong?"  
  
Kerry?  
  
I stopped screaming.  
  
Hick Girl walked around the corner.  
  
"Courtney? What are you doing in my house? And who is this woman?"  
  
"Ker, what are YOU doing in MY house?" She asked it like someone else would have, but I couldn't place it.  
  
"HICK GIRL, WHAT IS GOING ON?"  
  
"Kerry, did you just call me Hick Girl? I am NOT Courtney!"  
  
"You keep calling me Kerry! Why???"  
  
I jumped out of bed and felt something I wasn't used to feeling.  
  
I looked down and screamed yet again.  
  
I ran to the mirror. Looking back was Kerry!  
  
I screamed.  
  
So did she.  
  
"WHAT THE GOO IS GOING ON?!?"  
  
I fell on the ground, confused and enraged.  
  
"HELP ME!"  
  
"HELP YOU? WHY AM I COURTNEY?"  
  
"I AM NOT KERRY! I AM JIM!"  
  
"JIM? WELL, I'M ISAAC, AND THESE ARE NOT MINE!" [S]he pointed at her chest.  
  
"I DIDN'T SAY THEY WERE!" Then, I fell backwards and laughed.  
  
"Mom, what's going on here?" asked Shawn, my (Kerry's) older brother.  
  
"I think your sister and Courtney have gone insane," she replied.  
  
"Sorry, Mom, we're not insane, but lemme make a few calls and I think I'll get this straightened out," I said, playing the part.  
  
* * *  
  
I dialed Isaac's number first. Might as well figure out who was there.  
  
"Hello?" It was 'Sac's mom. I could hear screaming in the background that sounded like Isaac, but weren't.  
  
"Can I speak with Isaac?"  
  
"He's a little hysterical right now," she said.  
  
"Tell him it's Jim."  
  
"I'll try..."  
  
In the background, the screaming was muffled.  
  
"Listen, child, there's a girl on the phone claiming to be Jim. I don't know what kind of joke this is, but you need to just shut up and take this call!"  
  
"Man, your mom is harsh," I said to Isaac.  
  
Courtney blushed.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Hey, Isaac?"  
  
"I'M NOT ISAAC!"  
  
"I know, calm down. I know it sounds like Kerry, but I'm Jim. Isaac is right next to me, looking strangle like a certain hick."  
  
"Goo?"  
  
"Yeah, crazy. Listen, who is this?"  
  
"It's Steve."  
  
"Okay, meet us at the Trainer in like thirty minutes."  
  
"Right..."  
  
I hung up and dialed my own number. My mom must have been having trouble with whoever was inhabiting my own body...  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Hi, it's, uh, Kerry. Can I speak to Jim?"  
  
"I'm not sure Jim's very sane right now. He thinks he's Carol and is actually dreaming."  
  
"Just let me talk to her, er, him. I can explain."  
  
"Okay... Honey? Kerry's on the phone. She says she can explain."  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Carol, it's Jim. In Kerry's body. Man, this is confusing! Anyway, we've somehow switched bodies. Just meet us at the Trainer in half an hour."  
  
In ten minutes, we had calmed everybody down. I had also written down who everybody wasn't. Wow. That's a little strange. Anyway... My list looked like this:  
  
Body: Mind:  
  
Kerry Jim  
  
Courtney Isaac  
  
Isaac Steve  
  
Jim Carol  
  
Bob Maya  
  
Goliath Stephanie  
  
Philip Natalie  
  
Natalie Philip  
  
Maya Goliath  
  
Steve Kerry  
  
Stephanie Courtney  
  
Carol Bob  
  
It was rather confusing. Anyway, me and Kerry/Isaac ran to the Trainer to meet up with everybody else.  
  
And there they were, trying to figure out who was who.  
  
"HEY EVERYBODY, SHUT UP! I got a list right here," I yelled.  
  
They quieted.  
  
After reading off the list, they erupted again.  
  
"YOU BETTER NOT BE LOOKIN' AT MY BODY THAT WAY!"  
  
"I AIN'T LOOKIN' AT YOU EVER! NOT IF MY LIFE DEPENDED ON IT! IF I DID, I MIGHT MAKE MYSELF, IN YOUR BODY, TO THROW UP!"  
  
This was a nice conversation between Courtney (in Stephanie) to Isaac (in Hick Girl).  
  
"HEY, ISN'T IT A LITTLE CONVENIENT THAT PHIL AND NATALIE ARE SWITCHED? I MEAN, THEY DON'T HAVE ANYTHING THE OTHER HASN'T SEEN BEFORE!" yelled Steve (inside Isaac).  
  
Philip (in Natalie) punched Steve (inside Isaac). "Shut up! We do not! I'm trying my hardest not to find a mirror!"  
  
Then Natalie (in Philip) punched him (in her).  
  
Heh heh...  
  
So far, I was the only calm one. Except for Carol, who was always calm, so she didn't count.  
  
Anyway...  
  
"SHUT UP!"  
  
They died again.  
  
"Thank you. Now, who has any idea what happened to our bodies and why I have this sudden fear of ants?"  
  
They laughed. Only Kerry (in Steve) didn't get it.  
  
"Maybe it was aliens," suggested Steve.  
  
Then he was beaten up.  
  
"Maybe we're all dreaming," said Carol.  
  
"Then why are we all having the same dream?" asked Stephanie.  
  
"I don't know! It was only a suggestion..."  
  
"Any more bright ideas?"  
  
"I think it was Sabrina," said Stephanie. "Her mastery of the mind can help her in ways we don't want to think about."  
  
"Then maybe we need to pay our friend Sabrina a visit," I said.  
  
"But they'll be watching for us this time," said Natalie.  
  
"Ah, but will they?" I asked sarcastically.  
  
"Shut up, Jim. Kerry. Whoever you are," said Bob.  
  
"THIS IS TOO CONFUSING!" screamed Maya.  
  
"No screaming in the building!" said the owner.  
  
"Sorry..."  
  
"We better wait until we get, uh, acquainted with these bodies before we try to take on Cos again. We don't know our abilities, and Goliath might try to lift something heavy in Maya's body and hurt her. I'd rather not return to my body and find that Carol has trashed it."  
  
She gave me "The Look".  
  
"Let's give it a week. Who knows? Maybe we'll find something about each other that we never knew," said Maya.  
  
"Oh, now we're learning life lessons from all this?" asked Isaac.  
  
"Shut up."  
  
"No."  
  
I left to get a little more sleep. All this switched-ness was giving me a headache.  
  
Next time I looked up, I had unconsciously walked to my own house.  
  
"Crud..."  
  
I turned the other way and walked towards Kerry's...  
  
AN: This is WAY too much fun. The rating is just because of the "These are not mine" joke and stuff in the future. So, what did you think? I think this could get interesting. REVIEWS ARE GOOOOD! 


	16. Switched: Maya

AN: Maya and Flame belong to Moonymonster (who I thank for the use of this awesome character). Here is Switched part 2.  
  
Chapter 16  
  
Maya  
  
"...the frame, memorize it. Take the mistakes, and don't go back to where we've always been..." The radio turned on.  
  
Funny, I'd never heard this song on this radio station before.  
  
I checked my radio.  
  
"GOO?"  
  
Was there a reason that I had a huge stereo?  
  
I sat up and looked around. I repeated my question.  
  
"GOO?"  
  
My room was a mess!  
  
Junk that I didn't even recognize covered the floor. My stereo was blaring some foreign music. And I was growing a mustache.  
  
"GOO?"  
  
Mustache?  
  
I looked in the mirror. Klepto looked back at me.  
  
"GOO!"  
  
I fell backwards.  
  
"OH, MAN!"  
  
My voice was a lot lower.  
  
Okay, Maya, let's think about this. One: I woke up in a strange bedroom. Two: The stereo that I had newly discovered looked fairly old for being one my mom had snuck in during the night. Three: I looked like Bob and needed to shave.  
  
One answer: I was dreaming.  
  
"Well, if this is a dream..."  
  
I ran outside "my room".  
  
"Oh, Robert, you're up," said somebody that had to be Bob's mom.  
  
"Hi, Mom."  
  
I continued downstairs.  
  
Then I realized I had to have been dreaming.  
  
I was in boxers and only boxers!  
  
I blushed and ran back to "my room".  
  
"GOOOO!"  
  
Okay, this was getting weird.  
  
"Bob, honey, phone call!"  
  
I went to answer it.  
  
It was Kerry.  
  
"Bob?"  
  
"This is not Bob."  
  
"I figured as much. I'm not Kerry. I'm Jim."  
  
"GOO?"  
  
"Heh, heh. We've all switched bodies or somethin', because Isaac is in Courtney's body. Either something wrong is going on, or we're all going insane."  
  
"Uh..."  
  
"Yeah. Meet us at the Trainer in half an hour."  
  
Then, when I hung up, I realized something.  
  
I was free.  
  
Whatever was inside my own body hadn't come over with me. Whoever was in my body was not in control of me.  
  
Oh my goo.  
  
"YES!" I screamed. "I'm free!"  
  
I ran around the littered room.  
  
All the junk must have been stuff Bob had "yoinked".  
  
"Ow!" I tripped over a random Pokeball.  
  
Out popped a...  
  
"Snowpea!"  
  
Oh, goo. He must have stolen the ball from Jim.  
  
Wait! What about Flame?  
  
She'd miss me.  
  
I had to get in contact with her.  
  
I dialed my number.  
  
"Hello, can I speak to Maya?"  
  
"Sure, just a sec. Maya, it's for you. It's a boy!"  
  
I almost yelled at my mom but I realized she wasn't my mom per se.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"It's Maya."  
  
"Uh, you sure sound like Bob, Maya."  
  
"I'm in Bob's body, like you're in me. Who is this?"  
  
"Uh, it's Taylor."  
  
"Who?"  
  
"Goliath, sorry."  
  
Oh, no. Goliath was being controlled by that thing inside my head. That's why it stuttered.  
  
"Okay, can I talk to Flame?"  
  
"Sure."  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Flame, it's me."  
  
"You sound like..."  
  
"Bob, I know. Listen, don't worry. Just make sure Goliath takes you with him to the Trainer. And don't go down any dark alleys."  
  
"Okay?"  
  
It switched back to Goliath.  
  
"Listen up, Maya. You'll be back in this body soon enough. You won't be free for long."  
  
Dial tone.  
  
* * *  
  
"Okay, let's give it a week. Then we'll take on the Rockets."  
  
Jim had just finished decided what we should do. I almost walked up to him and said something about my body, but Goliath gave me an evil look.  
  
"Hey Maya, what's up?"  
  
"Oh, never mind."  
  
I ran and grabbed Flame, then tore out of the building.  
  
"What's going on?" asked Creamfire.  
  
"I'll tell you when we get 'home'," I replied.  
  
When I slammed the front door, I was breathing hard.  
  
"Sorry, I had to make sure my body wasn't following us," I said.  
  
"That was a little cryptic..." she said.  
  
"Listen, when that thing kidnapped me at the Ruins, it did something to my body. Something's in there..."  
  
"Bob, is that you?" Bob's dad.  
  
"Yeah, dad."  
  
"Who are you talking to?"  
  
"I'm, uh, talking to a Pokemon," I said. Crud. That sounded stupid. Well, then again, Bob wasn't the brightest bulb in the box...  
  
"Oh, okay."  
  
His dad agreed with me.  
  
"Okay, let me finish."  
  
I told Flame all that had happened to me in the three weeks following the trip. I told her of being under control of that something. I told her about not saying what I wanted to say when a guy said something sweet.  
  
I told her about the rescue.  
  
* * *  
  
The phone rang a few hours later.  
  
It was Kerry. Jim.  
  
"Hey, you wanna go to a movie later?"  
  
"Who all is going?" I asked.  
  
"Well, let's see. There's me... and you... And that's it."  
  
"Are you asking me on a date?"  
  
"No, it's just that everybody else is trying to get their counterparts' schedule right."  
  
"Oh, well then, that sounds great."  
  
"Cool. I'll be there around four."  
  
"All right. Bye."  
  
He hung up.  
  
* * *  
  
"Somebody's gonna start rumors about Bob and Kerry," said Jim.  
  
I laughed. "Yeah, we could get them in some real trouble."  
  
It was a few minutes after we had left my house. Bob's house. Whoever's.  
  
Anyway, we were walking through Bob's neighborhood towards the theater. It wasn't the best neighborhood, but "I" apparently had a reputation. Everybody steered clear of the kleptomaniac.  
  
Well, not everybody...  
  
"Hey, you!"  
  
We whirled around.  
  
"Yeah, you with the problem!"  
  
A group of rough-looking gang members were walking our way.  
  
Instinctually, Jim pushed me back.  
  
"Hey, I'm the one in the guy's body, Kerry," I said.  
  
He looked at Kerry's lack of anything he could use against the one in the lead, wearing a large, dangerous-looking chain around his think neck. "I guess you're right."  
  
"How many times have I told you, freak, not to come through our territory?" asked the apparent leader.  
  
I swaggered forward and played my part. The part was that of a complete idiot who had no idea what (s)he was doing. He was about six feet tall, weighing two-hundred-fifty pounds or so.  
  
Two-hundred pounds of muscle.  
  
Muscle that was hungry to rip apart flesh.  
  
Oh my goo, I thought, I'm going to die.  
  
I decided to coin a phrase. "When in a kleptomaniac, do as the kleptomaniacs do." I grabbed the chain around his throat, using Bob's trademark word. "Yoink!"  
  
It snapped from my weight, giving me a fairly good weapon, which I used to smack him across the face with. It ripped a gash in his cheek.  
  
Now, he was mad. The dude roared and charged at me. Tapping into the resource of Bob's long legs, I jumped up and landed on his head.  
  
So the genius decides to shake me off by slamming into a nearby wall.  
  
Very bright.  
  
I leapt off right before he collided with the wall, knocking himself unconscious.  
  
I bowed at Jim's clapping and laughter, then turned to the other two guys. "Anyone else?"  
  
They ran off.  
  
"That was terrific!" said Jim. "Couldn't have done it better myself."  
  
I smiled, something I hadn't done in months.  
  
Jim noticed and pointed it out.  
  
"I..." I started to tell him everything, as I had Flame.  
  
But she wouldn't try to help me. I knew Jim would try to get it out by whatever means he could. He was sweet that way.  
  
"It's nothing."  
  
"How can you not smile for three months and say it's nothing?"  
  
I smiled. "Really, it isn't."  
  
"You don't know how happy it makes me to see you smile. I've missed it."  
  
"You're sweet."  
  
He couldn't think of a reply, so we continued on to the movies.  
  
AN: So, do we see a little romance blossoming? And what has been controlling Maya for these past months? Ponder those questions for a while, because you ain't findin' out! REVIEW!!! 


	17. Switched: Carol

Chapter 17  
  
Switched: Carol  
  
AN: This chapter may insult a certain reader, as it's about her. It's a little embarrassing for her, but I told her that if she didn't give me my hat, this would get written. Guess what? That was yesterday, and I still have no hat. So, here's our little exposé. Note: Most of this chapter is a conversation in a chat room between our heroes, so it's a little weird.  
  
Monday morning.  
  
I was stuck in Jim.  
  
That meant I had to take all his classes.  
  
Almost no problem. Almost.  
  
They were all the same classes, except for Algebra. I had a lower class, known as just 1A. He was in 1B. I didn't know how to do the advanced math.  
  
Mrs. Burgoyne wrote a problem up on the whiteboard: 4x² - 9. "Mr. Hawkwind, factor," she told me.  
  
"I..." What could I say? I had no idea what to do!  
  
I threw Goliath (who wasn't as much of a Goliath as Stephanie would have you believe) a pleading glance. He (well, she, but yeah) said:  
  
"Mrs. Burgoyne, Jim didn't have a good weekend. There was a tragedy in his family, so he's a little off."  
  
Thank you, I mouthed.  
  
"Oh," said the teacher. "Well then, I'm sorry. Anyone else?"  
  
Megan raised her hand and answered. "It's a difference of two squares, so it's two-x plus three, two-x minus three."  
  
Mrs. Burgoyne wrote that on the board: (2x + 3) (2x - 3).  
  
"Thank you. Today, we'll be reviewing for Wednesday's test."  
  
Test?!?  
  
"It will be over all of chapter eight."  
  
Eight?!?  
  
We were only on chapter 2 in our class!  
  
* * *  
  
History wasn't bad, except that we had to watch the most boring video ever.  
  
I would have slept, but Mr. Flint said he would ask us questions afterward. Instead, I tried to pay attention.  
  
Not easy.  
  
The pictures of heroes from some war kept turning into pictures of Steve. He, well, Kerry inside him, would be in Science now. Steve himself would have been in Algebra down in the Library. I wouldn't get to see "him" until next period, when he and Jim shared Study Hall.  
  
Finally, the video ended, and Bob (in my body) woke abruptly when the lights turned on. Of course, the teacher asked him the first question. Also of course, he didn't know the answer.  
  
"Strike one, Miss Jones."  
  
Great. There went my reputation.  
  
Then Emma and Tommy got the next questions, answering them right. Two out of three gave us no homework that day. Good. None for any classes meant that I could work with the others to get our bodies back.  
  
In Study Hall, we met in the Library, where we were supervised by Amanda Otstott, who had graduated a few years before and now coached the dance team. She didn't really care if we did homework or not, just as long as we weren't too loud.  
  
I sat there for a few minutes, staring at Steve, until Kerry noticed. "Why are you staring at me?" she asked.  
  
"Um..."  
  
I stopped.  
  
I looked over at "Isaac". He was drawing something. I pulled out a piece of paper and wrote "hey".  
  
"Hey," he replied.  
  
"What're you drawing?"  
  
"Aipom."  
  
"Okay..."  
  
"Yeah, I got bored."  
  
"LOL."  
  
"So yeah, how is it living at Jim's house?"  
  
"Pretty normal, but his brothers keep driving me crazy."  
  
"He has brothers?"  
  
"Yeah, two. Ryan is eleven, and Daniel is eight."  
  
"Wow. Who knew?"  
  
* * *  
  
Later, at home, we all got on the Internet. I logged onto my own screen name on Instant Messenger: PonytaGirl06.  
  
Everybody else was online. I was invited into an already-started chat room.  
  
The conversation went a little like this:  
  
PonytaGirl06: hey everybody!  
  
HickGirl33: Hey, Carol! (Courtney, apparently)  
  
UncannyElf02: we were just talking about how we can go against the rockets (Jim)  
  
OLINEMAN: were gonna go kill em! (Isaac, an offensive lineman on the football team)  
  
SAVEPA: you do that, sac. (Steve's initials and our school's abbreviation)  
  
CreamFlame65: hey wait, where's goliath? (Maya)  
  
KerBear92: where is the terminator? (Kerry)  
  
I checked the list of people in the room, then who was online. Terminator77 wasn't on there.  
  
CreamFlame65: oh no...  
  
Klepto9226: what? (Bob)  
  
CreamFlame65: NVM (short for never mind for all you computer illiterate "ppl")  
  
IHEARTNATALIE: whatever (I'm not even gonna tell you who that was).  
  
EPAcheer3: i wonder where he is (Natalie, a cheerleader)  
  
CreamFlame65: i would tell, but i better not  
  
NewsGirl: as far as i can tell, he's not supposed to be anywhere right now, because i'm not (Stephanie, named after her favorite band)  
  
CreamFlame65: i dont go anywhere about now regularly... where could he be?  
  
HickGirl33: Don't know, but we can fill him in later.  
  
UncannyElf02: yeah. so back to what we were saying...  
  
Klepto9226: YOINK! *grabs Jim's wallet and runs away*  
  
UncannyElf02: hey! give that back!  
  
MexicanMaster has entered the room.  
  
SAVEPA: what the?  
  
MexicanMaster: mwahahahahahahahahahaha!!!  
  
NewsGirl: Cos?  
  
MexicanMaster: yes, it is i!  
  
UncannyElf02: goo?? howd you get in here?  
  
MexicanMaster: somebody invited me... :)  
  
Klepto9226: YOINK! *steals cos' hat*  
  
MexicanMaster: why you little... give that back!  
  
IHEARTNATALIE: keep away! keep away!  
  
Klepto9226: *throws it to Carol*  
  
I typed that I caught it and threw it to Kerry.  
  
KerBear92: *throws it to Steph*  
  
MexicanMaster: i DEMAND that you return my hat, former slave!  
  
NewsGirl: no  
  
MexicanMaster has left the room.  
  
PsychicWitch has entered the room.  
  
PsychicWitch: *mentally steals back the master's hat*  
  
CreamFlame65: no! *jumps on Sabrina*  
  
EPAcheer3: *grabs hat from air* ha!  
  
PonytaGirl06: we win  
  
PsychicWitch: You've just made this all the harder on yourselves. *vanishes*  
  
PsychicWitch has left the room.  
  
HickGirl33: What did she mean by "all the harder on us"?  
  
NewsGirl: well, whatever it is, you can bet it wont be nice. i was under her control for like a year. shes ruthless.  
  
AN: So, there you have it. Oh, a cookie to whoever can tell me Stephanie's favorite band that her screen name is from. Still, nobody has guessed last chapter's song. It's not hard, but only Philjoelrox might know it, but she has no computer, so yeah. 


	18. Bob: Another Tale of Randomnity

Chapter 18 Bob: Another Tale of Insane Randomnity  
  
AN: Oh, joy, here we have a second pointless chapter. Yes, randomnity is a word, so is randomicity. Just ask gideonguy. Anyway, it's time for me to take out some of my anger. Note: Takes place before the switching of the bodies.  
  
"Yoink!"  
  
I grabbed the glass containing the most liquid and drank it immediately.  
  
"Uh, Bob? You just drank my PokeFizz," said Stephanie.  
  
I had to say something. "Purple!"  
  
"Goo?" asked Philip.  
  
"Yoink!" I took the napkin holder.  
  
"Guys, I think this klepto thing is getting outta hand," said Jim.  
  
It was true. I had gotten progressively worse in the past two days. I could no longer control the sudden outbursts and had stolen several peoples' wallets. Jim had to apologize and return the money, though.  
  
"Bob, maybe you should see a shrink," said Courtney.  
  
"Monkeys!"  
  
"Goo?" asked Philip.  
  
BOOM.  
  
"What was that?"  
  
Kerry hid in a corner. "Oh, no, another ant!"  
  
BOOM.  
  
"I don't think so," said Natalie.  
  
"She's right. Giant ants aren't as common as to pop up twice in the span of one month," said Carol.  
  
"So, what is it?" asked Isaac.  
  
BOOM.  
  
"Big," was the reply from Goliath.  
  
"Maybe the Powerpuff Girls will save us again!" said Philip hopefully.  
  
"No, I don't think you'll get to recite your monologue again," said Jim.  
  
We ran outside the Trainer to be met with...  
  
"Oh, yeah!"  
  
It was a giant Kool-Aid juice pouch!  
  
"GAH!" yelled Courtney.  
  
"GOO!" yelled Philip.  
  
"AAAAAH!!!" I yelled. "LOOK! THE STORE IS CLOSED! I CAN'T STEAL ANY MORE CANDY!"  
  
They all stared at me. Goliath blinked.  
  
"Oh, yeah!" said the pouch again.  
  
A line of black jumpsuits ran out from an alley. I recognized a few of them as classmates: Ryan, Ross, Paul, Corey, Chloe. The others were unfamiliar.  
  
The giant drink box stepped forward (how he did it with no legs is beyond me) and smashed a car. It took another step and smashed one of the Rockets.  
  
"Eeek!" screamed another familiar Rocket. I didn't even remember her name, so I'll just call her "Her". She started screaming at the liquid like it would understand and stop its rampage. "I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU MORE THAN ANYBODY I'VE EVER HATED BEFORE! I JUST BROKE MY RECORD OF BEING MAD AT SOMEBODY! I..."  
  
Make it stop, I thought. I've always disliked that girl, so maybe she'll.  
  
Splat.  
  
And she was gone. Thank goodness, I was getting a headache.  
  
"Oh, yeah!" roared the Vitamin C-containing fruitiness.  
  
"Maybe we should stop it..." said Natalie, always the good-natured one.  
  
Man, she was hot, too.  
  
"Nah, let's see if it'll smash more of Team Rocket," said Philip.  
  
She gave him her "look", and he changed his mind immediately. "No, you're right. Let's go stop it." He sighed. She kissed him. He grinned.  
  
"But how?" asked Carol.  
  
"If it's exactly like a regular Kool-Aid pouch..." said Jim thoughtfully. "Come on!"  
  
He led us around a building, out of sight from the eternally-"oh yeah"-ing juice, and behind it.  
  
"There."  
  
You could see the juice through the clear back of the pouch. "Everybody, pick a Pokemon that can poke or cut!" he said.  
  
He chose his Crobat, Pinky. Others picked different 'Mon. I yoinked a Pokeball from Jim's belt and threw it. Out came...  
  
"Snowpea!"  
  
Everybody stared at me. Natalie blinked.  
  
I grinned stupidly.  
  
"Uh... what's that?" I pointed behind them all. While their backs were turned, I took off running in the opposite direction.  
  
I hid behind a trash can and realized I was still holding Snowpea's ball. Hmmm...  
  
I recalled it and watched the rest of the fight.  
  
All the different Pokemon buried teeth, beaks, and claws into the plastic backing of the drink.  
  
Blue liquid flowed from the holes. I ran to one and began drinking all I could.  
  
"Hahahahahahahaha!"  
  
The pouch crumpled as it deflated, falling forward and smashing the rest of the Rockets.  
  
* * *  
  
The next Monday, all the Rockets had strangely returned.  
  
All but one.  
  
The uh... never mind... The one that had yelled at the pouch didn't come back.  
  
Weird.  
  
Even if she had, I might've taken a large truck and run her over.  
  
AN: Wow, that was fun. But, my anger against "her" isn't subsiding... She must die! 


	19. Switched: Courtney & Isaac

AN: Another slightly random chapter. Only slightly. Yeah... Has anyone noticed that 1) Stewart has vanished into thin air, and 2) Kerry reappeared from being dead? Only my most loyal readers have pointed these things out. Sorry, all you Stewart fans (if there are any...), but he's gone. For-ev- er. Okay, the end.  
  
Chapter 20  
  
Switched: Isaac/ Courtney  
  
Writer's Block  
  
I guess being stuck in Courtney's body wasn't the worst thing ever. There was always...  
  
No, wait, I take that back; this was the worst.  
  
At least Jim was there. Most of the time. All of a sudden, he was spending a lot of his free time with Maya. I finally asked him about it on Tuesday of that tormented week.  
  
"Dude, are you and Maya going out?"  
  
He laughed. "You know how strange that sounded coming from Hick Girl?"  
  
I scowled. "Just answer the question, Jimmy."  
  
He shrugged. "Nah. Not officially, anyway."  
  
I hummed in disbelief.  
  
"Really! I haven't asked her out yet."  
  
"Whatever."  
  
BING!  
  
We both jumped at the chime.  
  
"Ohdeargoo," said Jim.  
  
I patted my chest to make sure my heart was still beating. "What was that?"  
  
"I think it was the computer..."  
  
I looked over at the inactive console sitting on top of Courtney's desk. It was about the only thing visible under all the drawings, rough drafts, and other junk.  
  
"Isn't it off?" I asked, looking at it.  
  
"No, just asleep." Jim reached under the papers and found the mouse. He wiggled it a little, and the screen "woke up", turning from black to brilliant, minty green. I covered my face, yelling "My eyes! I'm blind!"  
  
"Ack!" said Jim, falling backwards. "You think that screen could be any brighter?"  
  
"Well," I said, "let's see." I went to Properties on the menu and selected Background. I searched through the colors, deciding that it couldn't. "Guess not."  
  
"It's got to go, then." He changed it to black and stated that we could now see the icons.  
  
One was flashing: the Mail image. The computer chimed again.  
  
"Click that; I think it's what is binging," I said.  
  
He complied, brining up the e-mail. The message was from someone I didn't recognize, one "HPgurl6007". I had no idea what that was. It was for Courtney, not for me from one of our switched friends. The subject was "The Importance of...", which had no meaning to me. I opened it.  
  
"Dear Aly," it began.  
  
"What's an Aly?" I asked.  
  
"I think it's one of her screen names on some writing site," Jim replied.  
  
I continued reading. "I am a faithful reader of yours that has noticed a decline in your progress. 'The Importance of...' hasn't been updated with a new chapter in three weeks. A few of your other readers appointed me to confront you with this problem. If it is a simple case of writer's block, please tell. If you cannot get a chance to write, we understand as well. Just please get a move on, as we want to see the further adventures of Lily! Sincerely, a concerned reader."  
  
I blinked. "What's that supposed to mean? I new Courtney wrote stuff, but she has a following?"  
  
"Apparently so. I've read some of her work, and it's pretty good," said Jim.  
  
"Have you read this 'The Importance of...'?"  
  
"No, I think it's new. Maybe we should forward this to her. She can figure it out."  
  
I copied the message and pasted it onto a blank e-mail. Typing in Steph's address, I added a quick message to the top:  
  
"hey u got this email and we were just tryin to figger it out. --sac and jim."  
  
"That'll work," said Jim.  
  
* * *  
  
I was completely engrossed in an online story when something popped up from the tool bar. My train of thought was halted.  
  
"Gah! What the...?"  
  
It was a popup, but not advertisement. It said "You have 1 new message(s)" in blue script. Stephanie had mail. I clicked it.  
  
It took me to an e-mail server and automatically logged in. The subject of the new mail was "To Hick Girl", and it was from my own e-mail address. I decided that it probably was from Isaac. I opened it.  
  
Reading through the forwarded message, I sighed. In all the turmoil of the ruined Ruins trip (I know, bad pun), and now the "Big Switch", as it later became to be called, I hadn't had any time to work on anything. I couldn't get that thought train going in that direction.  
  
Plus there was a seriously large block on that particular branch of track: a block that belonged to a writer.  
  
I was stuck. I couldn't get the plot to pick up. I'd sit down and type something, but I'd find something wrong with it, and completely wipe it away.  
  
I sent a reply e-mail to Isaac, just telling him that I had it taken care of. That was a lie, of course. I then went to my own e-mail and replied to HPgurl. I wrote that it was both reasons, lack of time and that pesky block. I also told her that this was no reason to get worked up. The e- mail made it seem like this story was her entire life. Knowing my readers, probably so.  
  
I recognized her name. She had reviewed this story a few times. As one of my favorite readers, she left reviews that didn't just say "great story", but gave me tips, plot holes to fix, and actually critiqued.  
  
I decided it was time to finish this chapter. I minimized the mail window and clicked the word processor. The disk with the beginnings of the episode was in my backpack. I slipped it into Stephanie's disk drive.  
  
Suddenly, it hit me.  
  
Literally.  
  
"Pi-pi-pi-pi-chuu!"  
  
Stephanie's Pichu flew through the air and smacked me in the head. I yelled as I fell out of the chair, accidentally clicking the mouse. Then, through a series of conveniently placed plot devices, the mouse, which had fallen off the pad and was hanging down, had its two buttons pushed several times.  
  
I had landed on a stack of books, which flew off in different directions.  
  
One hit the bed, which dropped a pillow. The cushion landed on "my" little brother Brennan's toy car, which was forced forward and into the dangling clicker.  
  
Another book hit Pichu, who shot out a tiny Spark, which had skipped all the other coincidences placed in the bedroom and went straight into the mouse, which absorbed the impulse and thought it had been clicked.  
  
The third book hit me in the arm, which flew up and...  
  
Hit me in the face. That was it.  
  
I almost died laughing. That was the strangest series of events I had ever seen, with the exceptions of giant ants and Kool-Aid pouches that killed selectively random people.  
  
Breathe, Courtney, breathe.  
  
Pichu climbed out from under the large volume and walked (or at least tried) up to me. Not in a straight line; more of zigzag.  
  
I looked at where the computer had ended up. You'd think that, after all that, I would've been brought to something that might help me with ideas. But of course, our author has a bizarre sense of humor. So, all that had happened was that the cursor had hit File, then Print, and had started printing the blank page.  
  
I cancelled it and got back to work.  
  
Pichu jumped up on my shoulder and looked at me like it wanted to help. Looking at its face somehow jump-started my thought train.  
  
I began to type. 


	20. Stephanie: Switched and Otherwise

Chapter 20 Stephanie: Switched and Otherwise  
  
AN: The "Otherwise" in the title deals with the other stuff that goes on in this chapter when Stephanie is in her own body. Also, this chapter has a slight PG rating. Very, very light. But I just wanted to make sure you readers weren't insulted.  
  
I guess this is the first time I've gotten to talk to you. And you want to know about the whole "Big Switch" thing, right?  
  
  
  
Okay.  
  
I should start with my situation at the time. I had no idea where I came from, or really who I was. Cos had completely taken away my past.  
  
Jim told me that Jessica had once been brainwashed. He told me that they had gotten her back by showing her a picture. She recognized it and she remembered everything almost immediately.  
  
But, Jessica was dead, and so I had no one to really talk to. I didn't even have a picture.  
  
All I remembered was working for the Rockets since I was about fourteen. I was almost seventeen at the "Switch", which was only months after they had rescued me. I could only remember three years of my life.  
  
I had been planning on going to maybe the police or somebody that could help me. The day I was going to, I woke up in a body that was not mine.  
  
It wasn't bad, except that Goliath had a lot more hair on him than I did. His pits looked like he was smuggling Sentret. You don't know how many times I was tempted to shave his legs. I figured he wouldn't like that very much, so I left the razor alone.  
  
And another thing: what psycho decided that almost all the girls had to trade bodies with guys? Sabrina either had no choice whose mind went where, or she had one sick sense of humor.  
  
I was faced with a choice. Either take no showers for a week or try to undress and bathe with my eyes closed.  
  
After a day in Goliath's SST class, my decision was made. If I had to smell this bad after one day, a week would kill me.  
  
This was not the easiest task in the world. I won't go into it; I'm trying to keep this at a light PG.  
  
When I got out (almost killing myself with the towel), there was the fact that I had to redress. "Mom, I'm out of bras," halfway came out my mouth before I stopped.  
  
Very tired from lifting weights, I retired for a nap.  
  
Bring on the dream sequence.  
  
* * *  
  
I was enveloped in darkness. It was icy, and it felt like it tried to suck the breath from my lips.  
  
I tried to look around, but there was nothing to the right or left. I looked down and tried to lift my hand to my face, but it was tied to the chair I was on.  
  
All I could do was feel. Barely, though. As far as I could tell, my arms were tied above the wrist, my feet were bound together and then strung from a crossbar on the underside of the chair, and there was a gag over my mouth, which I tried to talk through.  
  
All that came out was, "Mff! Mm mmm mm mm!"  
  
Strangely, that got a response.  
  
"That so?" a female voice said.  
  
I jumped. Or tried to, but my seat prevented that.  
  
Wait, I knew that voice. "Mm-m-mm?"  
  
"Yes, I am Sabrina," it replied.  
  
Suddenly, the cloth was removed from around my jaw. "Bleh," I said, stretching my mouth out. "What do you want?"  
  
"I need to warn you," she replied.  
  
"Warn me? About what?"  
  
A light switched on. I closed one eye against the glare. I saw I was in my own body, so this had to be a dream.  
  
"Maybe, even though you're dreaming, you should at least 'see' me." The psychic walked into the ring of illumination. "I've been having strange visions recently. Much stranger than you would believe, I assure you.  
  
"I believe they are dark omens. That much I am sure of. I see Cos falling, and..."  
  
"Wait, how is that a bad thing?"  
  
"Because it brings about greater evils, ones past your worst fears. After you meet this challenge I had set up for you..."  
  
I struggled against my bonds as I yelled, "You witch, change us all back!"  
  
She chuckled. "No. You will have to find your own solution to this problem. Right now, I need to finish my future telling.  
  
"After you change back, you and your friends will embark on a journey. It will take you to the underworld of Kanto and then, even deeper, to the dark belly of evil. Dark as my master is, he still will not go to these places.  
  
"Jim will find someone from his past. Friends will betray each other. Sides will be chosen. Only one of your friends will remain faithful to their schoolmates. A war will break out as your fellows' enmity grows deeper for one another. Only the remaining one will make peace again."  
  
I stared, wide-eyed, at her. While she had said this, her eyes had glazed over, and I felt dizzy. Her mental hold on me was weakened while she was crystal-ball gazing.  
  
"Now, I will let you sleep," she said, then the light went out, and the next thing I knew, it was morning, and Goliath's alarm was going off.  
  
AN: That may have been short, but it's a prelude for what's to come. And no, the "person from Jim's past" is not Jessica again. She's dead for good. 


	21. Switched: Goliath

AN: Finally, a development in the plot! Here's an explanation of everything that has been happening since chapter 5, The Arcade. 

Chapter 21

Switched: Goliath

I was blind.

I was awake, but my eyes wouldn't open. I could feel that the lids were closed. I tried to lift my hand to my face, but it wouldn't move.

I was paralyzed. Completely paralyzed.

And yet, I could feel my entire body. It just wouldn't move. I felt myself breathing, but if I tried to hold it, nothing happened.

The alarm went off.

BEEP, BEEP, BEEP!

I must've set the tone instead of the radio.

And then, I felt another presence inside my head.

My eyes opened. My hand reached over to the clock and turned it off.

But it wasn't my hand. Last time I'd checked, my arm was a little bit hairier, and my fingernails were shorter and unpolished.

Not only was it not mine, but I couldn't control it!

I sat up unwillingly. My eyes swept the room. Not my room.

Something else was inside my head.

I could tell two things just from its presence. One, it wasn't human, and two, it wasn't friendly.

I tried to talk to it. Think to it. Communicate with the little thing inside my head.

__

"Hello?"

"You are not the girl," it replied, but not out loud.

__

"What?"

"Maya. Where is the girl?"

"Listen, I don't know what you are talking about. Why are you in my head?"

"This is not your head."

It made my body walk to the bathroom that was adjacent to whoever's room I was in. It stood us in front of the mirror.

I let out a mental scream.

A black-haired girl stared back at me. Not only was I controlled by some strange being, but I was in Maya's body!

__

"Silence, fool. I can still hear you, and that sound was not pleasant," said the thing.

I got a grip on myself and asked it, _"How long have you been in Maya's body?"_

It thought a little, then said, "_Ah, you are the one they call Goliath, aren't you? The big, strong one. Yes, I remember. I have inhabited this body since I got out of... what was her name? Ah, Marvette. She let me out."_

"Out of what?"

"My prison."

Ooh, cryptic.

__

"How long ago was this?"

"I was trapped in Marvette with no other available hosts for a year while her father studied my ruins. Then, Maya wandered over. I saw this as an opportunity and attacked her. All I could do was possess her before she woke and Jim showed up. I didn't have enough power to release myself."

"What was the thing you sent to attack us?"

"One of my Intities."

"What's that?"

"An Intity is a fully-evolved Unown. Humans haven't found the circumstances needed for the full evolution.

I had to remember that; Oak would want to know.

__

"What happened to Marvette after you released her? Wouldn't she tell someone she was being held by a strange being?"

"I absorbed all her life force to plan my escape. Then, I left her in the forest."

So it wasn't afraid to kill to set itself free.

It reached up and brushed the lock of hair away from the eye it always covered. I would've jumped, if I was more than thoughts. The eye was purple. No wonder the hair sheltered it. _"Hmm. The life-draining process is coming along."_

It was stealing Maya's energy!

There was a knock at the door, and Maya's mom came in. "Phone, honey."

It took it. "Hello?"

It was Kerry. Or was it?

***

Later, when everyone had gathered at the Trainer, Bob kept throwing "us" strange looks.

__

"That's Maya," said the voice.

__

"I figured," I replied. _"She knows you're here."_

"Not for long. When you switch back bodies, I'm transferring to yours. I need your strength to open the chamber where my own body lies. Then, I will be free. The world will once again fear me."

Right, I thought, I won't let you do that.

I had a plan.

Bob walked up to Kerry. Er... Maya walked up to Jim. I felt my eyebrow furrow into a glare. It was giving her a warning. Maya backed up. I nodded.

__

"Leave her alone," I said.

__

"No, I need her energy. Marvette had a lot, but it was not enough to completely restore my powers."

Anger welled up within me. That is a major figure of speech, because "me" was controlled by a psychotic monster. I was going to try my plan out that night.

I figured that if it worked, I'd be awake for most of the night. So I went to sleep. All I had to do was decide to sleep, since I didn't have to relax or anything.

Basically, my mind shut down, and the next thing I knew, it was night.

My plan was fairly simple. I would wait until my "roommate" was deep in sleep, then I would see if I could control the body and go get help.

I just hoped it was asleep enough that it wouldn't wake up if I started walking. I figured that I hadn't been able to move that morning because it was waking up at the time.

My eyes opened. Yes! I was in control. I sat up, but slowly. Suddenly, differences in Maya's physiology and my own made themselves aware to me. I won't comment on them.

I made sure I could move everything before I got up. Everything but the fourth toe on my right foot was usable. That was because Maya had broken it in track. I couldn't even feel it, so I could run on it.

Now came the part where I snuck out of the house. For someone who had never done it before, I found it rather easy. Everyone was already asleep, so I just walked downstairs and out the door.

Where was I gonna get help from?

My mind raced through everyone I knew, every option. I couldn't go to any of my friends because I wasn't sure where any of them were. Maybe the sleeping thing was a Pokemon. I could go see Professor Oak. No, he was off on some scientific thing.

I could only think of one person who could help me. I almost kicked myself for it.

I used Maya's running legs to head towards the warehouse.

***

As soon as I stepped inside, I heard a sound very close to that of a gun cocking. It was the guard Pokemon. They looked exactly like normal Slowpoke, but the K-CLICK I had heard when I came in was them aiming large mechanically-attached Hyper Beam cannons at me.

"Can't breed any new gene-Pokemon, Cos? I mean, attaching guns to Pokemon is kinda sad."

"What do you want, brat?" I saw the weasel on his belt before I saw the rest of him. The bronze shone through the darkness. I also noticed he was wearing pajamas.

"Where is Sabrina?" I asked.

"At the moment, she is checking up on the kids. Have to make sure no one breaks them out."

The psychic floated into the room. Literally. "I'm done."

"Show-off," mumbled Cos.

"What was that?" asked Sabrina.

"I said, 'I'm off'. I'm going back to bed."

We watched him retreat back to the shadows.

"I have a request," I said.

"I know."

"Should you really be reading people's minds like that?"

"I've known about this problem for a while."

"So, do you know how to get rid of it?"

She thought for a moment. "Yes," she said simply.

"And...?"

"It will be hard. I'll need full concentration. We'll need to go to my inner sanctum."

Oh, great, exactly where I wanted to go.

"I heard that."

I'll hear you....

"You'll hear me? Is that supposed to be some kind of a threat?"

"Let's just go."

We walked to her "sanctum". When I say we, I mean that I walked, she drifted. As we passed the Rockets' quarters, I saw several familiar faces. Ross, Ryan, Paul, Corey, and Chloe all gave me dirty looks.

Sabrina stopped moving forward at a wall. "I don't even let Cos in here." Then, she let out a powerful psychic burst that I felt. A headache came on as the wall opened up.

As we progressed further, I detected some strange smells. Incense. It wasn't helping my migraine.

Suddenly, I was blinded by the bright purple that was synonymous to Psychic-types. Several fat, squashy cushions surrounded a... who woulda thought... a crystal ball on a table. Several candles lit the room, and I could see the fragrant smoke wafting around the dim lights.

Sabrina hovered over one of the pillows, then dropped. I took a seat across from her.

"Now, breathe deeply of the perfume," she commanded.

I inhaled, practically feeling my brain cells pop.

She put two fingers on each temple and began to probe my mind.

__

There it is, she said to me.

__

Don't wake it up, I replied.

__

I'm trying to read its mind without disturbing it...

I felt it stir. _Careful!_

There, I know where its body is so I can send it back.

Can you get it out?

I'm trying...

Suddenly, she flew backwards.

And I lost control.

"You have failed, Sabrina," it said through me.

She lay, motionless, barely breathing.

"A word to the wise: do not go messing in strange minds."

With that, he turned and slowly walked back to Maya's house.


	22. Switched: The Morning

AN:  More progression of the plot!  And the end of the second story arc!  Also my first chapter with _italics_!

Chapter 22

Switched: The Morning

Goliath

On Saturday, "it" woke me up.

"Arise, my friend," it said.  "See what your nighttime venture has done."

My eyes were opened, and my own room appeared.

_How did this happen?_ I asked.

"All according to plan, that is how it happened.

"When you entered this body, I was surprised, I admit, but it did make my plan much easier to carry out.  I had planned on waiting until I had drained all of Maya's energy, then return to my imprisoned body and break out.  When all of your friends were talking about how it must have been Sabrina that switched you, my plan started reforming.

"I let you go to Sabrina.  I was not asleep, but merely letting you take over for a while.  I knew she would probe to find me and remove me.  I am a threat, even to her.  She sensed that.

"But she did not sense my power.  That was her undoing.  I shot back.  It was not very strong, compared to what I have in store for the rest of the world.  It still killed her, of course.  Then her mental hold was lost, and you returned to your own body."

_You killed her?_

"Yes, I did.  She held on until last night, but was not strong enough.  For the most powerful psychic, she was not hard to kill.  During my reign, there were Abra that were more of a problem.

"Of course, these were Abra that had been in my army.  I trained them myself.  Some rebelled, and were quite hard to deal with."

_Wait.  What army?  What reign?_

"Do you not know who I am?

_Um... no?_

"Foolish human."

Then it wove a tale for me.  I almost didn't believe it, until it mentioned the journal.

"The journal had the entire story I just told you written in my language.  Only unlocking it with both keys will translate it for you."

We had given the journal to Marvette's father.  Marvette herself was dead; maybe she had it.  We could find how to defeat this thing on its pages.

_What is the second key?_ I asked.

It laughed.  "Ah, my key.  I guess I can tell you.  It was one of the Unown.  I saw it and it amused me.  Its shape was very peculiar: that of a key."

If I'd had a jaw, it would have dropped.

"I guess we should head to the Ruins," it said.

It got up and left the house.  We reached the bus stop and sat to wait.

*        *        *

Maya

I woke up with hair in my face.  I reached up to feel it.  My own hair.  And I was in control.

It was gone!

I sat up and almost screamed, but it was too early to wake everybody up.

Time to go for a jog.

I pulled on some sweats and shook Flame up.

"Wha...?  Go away..."  She turned over.

"Flame, it's me."  I pulled her back over.

Her eyes opened wide.  "Maya?"

"I'm back."

"Great.  Now can I go back to sleep?"

"Sure, I'm going to see Jim."

I sprinted all the way to Kerry's house, then realized he probably had switched back, too.  I turned back around and dashed to his house.

*        *        *

Jim

I sat straight up.  Something at the window had woken me up.  I pulled two of the blinds apart and looked out.  A small rock hit the window in front of my face.  I jumped back.

I peered out again to see Maya, holding a handful of the pebbles.  She dropped them and grinned when she saw me looking.

Then I realized that if it was Maya's body, then either it was Goliath, or...

I looked at my hands: no nail polish!

We were un-switched!

I ran downstairs as quietly as possible, then went out the front door and towards Maya.  She charged at me, and somehow we ended up hugging.

We stood there laughing for about five minutes.  That was when I realized I was standing there in my pajamas.  I went in to change.  I wrote a note before I left, "Out with friends.  Left early, be back sometime."

As we walked to everyone else's houses, Maya explained the whole demon-possession thing.  Because of that, we decided to leave Goliath for last.  We weren't sure where "it" was, and if "it" was in Goliath, he could be hard to deal with if we didn't have everyone else with us.

After beating Isaac to wake him up, almost breaking Carol's window with stones, being threatened by Kerry's brother Sean to get away from their house, and racing from Philip's psychotic chihuahua, we still weren't ready for what happened in the next twenty-four or so hours.

*        *        *

Goliath

The bus dropped us off in Violet City.  I wasn't sure what was about to happen.  All that I did know was that if Jim was gonna save the world this time, he'd have to get to the door, seal it, and bury the chamber under a hundred feet of dirt to stop this thing.

It walked towards the south exit, which led to the Ruins.  Apparently unknowing of any laws against jaywalking, it crossed streets right in front of cars.  We must have gotten honked at twelve times.  But my little friend didn't care.

All he wanted was freedom.

Which wouldn't be bad, I thought.

And then there was a break in civilization.  We left the metropolis and entered the fairly rural surroundings that were now familiar.  We pushed through the bushes and other plants.  He had no regard for my arms and legs being torn to shreds by the branches.  I was bleeding badly by the time we reached the stone pathway to the main area of the Ruins.

I heard the buzzing before the black swarm came swooping down upon us.

*        *        *

Jim

Goliath's house was deserted.  I whipped out my Pokegear and stuck the cartridge in that served as my cell phone.

"Hello?" was the answer on Mrs. Davidson.

"It's Jim."

"Have you seen Taylor?"

"We were just coming to get him, but there's no one at your house."

"We're at the police station.  Goliath disappeared this morning before anyone was even awake.  Didn't leave a note, didn't do anything."

"Have the police found anything?"

"They are getting strange reports from people in Violet City of a big teenager running across streets..."

I looked at Maya.  It was loud enough that she had heard it.

"Thanks, Mrs. Davidson.  I'll call if we find anything."

I unfolded my bike and hoped everyone else could follow.  "Go grab bikes or skateboards or a Pokemon or whatever and head towards Violet.  Grab your strongest Pokemon; he won't be easy to deal with."

I turned and pedaled out.

*        *        *

Goliath

They were everywhere.  All I saw were eyes.  I knew how Maya must've felt when the Intity got her...

Even though we were surrounded by the Unown, my captor marched on.  He knew where he was going even without sight.  Then, I felt it: a quiet voice, calling.  It was deep, so it wasn't any more than a low rumble in the distance, like thunder from a faraway storm.

That's what we were following.

The multitude moved with us.  It was constantly buzzing, clicking, and chattering amongst itself.

The voice grew louder.

*        *        *

Jim

I realized how slow I was going when a Butterfree passed by.

I pulled Pinky off my belt and summoned him.  Quickly breaking my bike back down, I mounted the sparkling bat.

"Back to the Ruins," I told him.  He complied, swooping away.

*        *        *

Philip

Everyone showed up near my house carrying the stuff Jim had told them to get.  All I had was a key chain with a key and a remote control.  I pushed it and my new car honked.

"Forget all that stuff, you guys.  We can use this and pick up Jim on the way," I said, opening the door and letting everyone in.

We drove to the rescue in _style_.

*        *        *

Goliath

The voice was loud enough now that I could make out words.

"Come.  You are almost here.  You will be free."

I asked, _What is that?_

"My guardian calls."

_What is your guardian?_

"You will see.  And your friends will, too."  Then it laughed, an evil, chilling laugh that echoed through the entire forest.  I could even feel fear from the Unown.  They were not about to go against this guy.  And judging from the story he told me at home, I wouldn't either.

The voice continued to speak.  "Only a little further..."

*        *        *

Jim

We flew over Azalea.  We were getting closer.  I just hoped I wasn't already too late.  I'd been late before, and Kanto was taken over by Giovanni's little minions and their gene-Pokemon.

That wasn't going to happen again.

A car honked underneath me.  I looked down to see everyone in a large SUV.  Well, everyone minus Goliath.  I dropped down and landed in the open seat next to Maya.  "Let's go, Phil!  The world'll be destroyed by the time we get there!"

Philip slammed the gas pedal.

*        *        *

Goliath

"There.  You're here."  The voice stopped.  So did we.

The entire mass of Unown vanished, scattering into the trees.  They didn't want to see their king's return.

They were smart.

AN:  Next, some good action, I hope.

Coming soon: a complete rewrite of the Dark Plot.


	23. Too Late

Chapter 23

Too Late

Jim

Philip sped along the highway, dodging other cars right and left. A police bike pulled up beside us. When I waved, she radioed for backup, knowing something was up.

"Only about five more minutes to go," said Philip.

"I hope that'll be fast enough," said Maya.

"Yeah, we can't let that thing release itself," I said. "If we're too late..."

***

Goliath

They were too late.

We had reached the cave Maya had talked about. A giant stone still blocked the way, moved only an inch or so.

Helplessly I watched as all my weightlifting turned on me. I picked up the rock, lifting with my legs, of course. The Unown continued to buzz behind me, but ceased when I dropped the rock.

"My reign has come yet again!" said the creature through my mouth. Then, I gagged, feeling like I was going to throw up. I regained control just in time to bend over and spit out a black shadow. It flew into the cave and for a moment, all was silent. Even the birds knew something was up; they weren't singing.

I stumbled from a deep, teeth-rattling roar from the grotto. A burst of psychic power threw me completely to the ground.

The Unown resumed their humming. They all turned to me. I knew how Jim had felt when he faced these little things. Their gaze was haunting. Especially when it started shining purple.

Purple?!?

I rolled to safety as they blasted a crater behind me. I thought of hiding, but the thought of facing whatever could growl with that much bass almost made me want to get my brains blasted by the miniature eyeballs taking aim again.

Of course, my bad would cause me to face it anyway.

***

Jim

"Almost there..." said Philip.

His SUV was tearing through brush and small trees. We probably took out half the forest, but more would be destroyed if we didn't get there.

I heard sirens behind us and found our backup. I just hoped they had some sort of weapon that we could use on this thing.

Holding onto the door grips for dear life, the car flew up over a fallen log and we landed in the middle of a clearing. Now, the word "clearing" means an open space. This was not open.

Thousands upon thousands of Unown were following a completely-in-control Goliath with their laser beams. One struck the door next to me and it imploded. I stretched to shield the others. "Anyone hurt?" I called. They all replied, so I told them to take cover and reached for the door handle. When I realized it and my seatbelt had been totaled, I leapt out the hole.

Before I could even grab a tree branch to start kicking some butt, it all stopped. Everything was silent and unmoving. Then, the creatures all turned to the cave and fell to the ground.

"Uh oh..." Goliath started.

"GET DOWN!" I knew what was coming. Intuition told me that this was not the time to stand around and pick my nose. Intuition was right.

At least ten of the vampire-looking things soared out from the opening, heralding another threat, one that we'd been talking to for months without knowing it. One that was plotting death, destruction, and complete annihilation of humans.

And then, silence again. "Uh, why does everything keep going quiet?" asked Goliath.

__

SILENCE.

Oh, we heard that in our heads, aright. And we shut up.

The ground shook. One footstep. Another. A third. Then it was in view. The light barely touched it, but its silhouette was all we needed to identify it.

All this time, we'd believed it to be a higher-evolved 'Mon. All this time, we'd thought it to be an enemy we wouldn't have any idea what to do about. All this time, we were wrong.

It was a large, bluish-gray, slit-eyed Snorlax.

"What the goo...?" said Philip.

"Mwahahaha... Thought I'd be something different, did you?" it said.

"How can you... How did you..." A million questions, a few seconds. And yet, one answer.

"Guess."

"Well," I said, "who do we know that likes to mess with DNA and combine Pokemon types? I can't think of anyone." My statement was very finely laced with sarcasm.

"I was one of Team Rocket's first experiments. I went a little crazy, so they sealed me in this cave."

Maya and Goliath looked at each other with bewildered looks on their faces. "What about the whole story you told us?"

The fat cat-looking Pokemon laughed again. "It got boring. I finally developed my Psychic powers enough to convince the nearby Unown that I was a kindred spirit, and I became their leader.

"Then I figured out how to possess people. When Marvette took that stick and budged the rock, I took her. Then I used her to write that journal that Carol found."

I had forgotten about that book. "So all of this was just to lead us to believe you were some sort of uber-Psychic, then release you to find a Snorlax?"

"I am a supreme Psychic, boy. But I am bored with this. I just wanted to get—"

It became a red flash and disappeared into a ball that flew over our heads and into the hands of…

"Giovanni?"

The big man himself was standing on top of our SUV, trademark suit and all.

"Who'd have thought we'd get you guys as another prize?" he said. "I wouldn't move if I were you." Then black jumpsuits wearing hats that overshadowed their eyes jumped out of nowhere, all aiming guns at us.

Very slowly, I raised my arms. The others followed.

AN: Ha! Bet you weren't expecting that! Come to think of it, neither was I...


	24. The Last Chapter

Chapter 24

AN: Finally, as this story wraps up, we learn a little about Jim's past and family, and a lot about the history of Team Rocket.

They threw us in the back of a huge truck, tied by our hands and feet. It was the trailer where they were keeping all the gene-Pokemon that hadn't been sent to the island with the rest.

"Holy... what's that smell?" asked Steve.

"It smells like—" began Isaac.

"Don't finish that," said Natalie, covering his mouth.

I nodded to the nearest stall and whistled. A gray horse reared its head, black flames making up its mane. "It's those Dark Rapidash that stink so bad."

So there we were, bound and gagging, surrounded by psychotic animals. Hoping the air was more breathable on the other side of the car, we hopped and crab-walked to the other side, bindings rubbing our wrists raw. I noticed some strange creatures as we moved: an Ivysaur with luminous, orange eyes and a thorny, blood-red blossom, a Krabby with extremely jagged pincers, and a Beedrill with very obviously dangerous poison dripping from its stingers.

"Uh, Jim?" asked Flame. "I thought you got Giovanni put in jail. Where'd he come from?"

"I don't know... Cos must've busted him out after the Snorlax killed Sabrina," I replied. "He may have needed someone else to publicly run Team Rocket, so as to keep himself hidden."

"So... did Cos actually start Team Rocket?" asked Carol.

There was an unfamiliar pang of almost hatred in my chest as I replied. "No," I said darkly, "he didn't. I don't really wanna talk about who really did."

"What do you mean, Jim?" asked Maya, who was sitting back-to-back with me.

"I know a little more of the Rockets' history than I'd care to." I knew who had started up the entire organization, the entire evil that I had battled for so long.

Before they could ask more, the truck threw on its brakes, and we lurched forward into the front wall. "Everyone all right?" I yelled. They moaned their responses. Nothing serious, just a few bumps and cuts.

Outside, the backup police that had been called had surrounded the truck and the rest of the vans that Rockets had piled into. A voice, amplified through a bullhorn, broke through the confusion. "Jim Hawkwind and company, step out of the trailer." When the cords prevented our complying, they broke down the door to get us. We gasped for the fresh air and stretched out our cramped limbs.

Ten minutes later, all the Rockets were being carted away and the gene-Pokemon were being loaded onto a large transport, headed for the harbor and ultimately the island with their brethren. The Snorlax was sent to Professor Oak to be studied, as it was possible the most powerful Psychic-type on the planet.

On the trip home, everyone fell asleep, but I couldn't. It had been ten years. I had been four when they caught him. I barely even remembered him. I just remembered that he was rarely home; he was always working. I didn't find out what he did until I was eight or nine. My mom finally told me: Dad was the leader of an international corporation of Pokemon thieves. Then he failed at what Giovanni succeeded in, capturing a city, and was sent to jail. I hadn't realized how long it had been, didn't realize I'd survived ten years without a father.

As these thoughts haunted me, darkness of sleep overtook me, my head lighting on Maya's, which was on my shoulder.

***

That was the only sleep I got for the remainder of the day. Nighttime and home just brought more restlessness.

I got up, put some clothes on, and quietly slipped out of the house. Wandering around aimlessly near diverse and familiar places in the city, I found myself on the sandy shoreline.

I noticed someone else had the same idea.

"Where's the lizard?" I asked, sitting down next to her.

"She's at home, asleep," Maya replied. "I don't tell her when I go out here, when I can't sleep."

"Why can't you sleep?"

"I keep having these weird dreams."

"Like what?"

"They don't make any sense. It's all of us, in some weird place. And we're all arguing, fighting. Then, I see these older people that come in and join the fight. Over to the side, someone stands, uninvolved. I recognize their shape, but darkness covers them, so I can't place who it is."

"That is weird."

We sat there for a few minutes, looking out at the waves. I put my arm around her in the chilly breeze, and she leaned close. Large waves broke on the shore. "You look as troubled as the sea," said Maya. "What's wrong?"

I hesitated to tell her, but I figured she was one of few that I could tell, should tell.

"My dad was released from prison today."

The End.

AN: Okay, that's it. Review if you wanna see more. Next: revision of the Dark Plot.


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